THE MAN OF ALL WOKK. 



A MEMOIR 

OF THE LIFE AND LABOURS OF THE 



REV. JAMES 31 AUG II AN, 

WITH 

SELECTIONS FROM HIS SERMONS AND LECTURES. 



WILLIAM COOKE, D.D., 

' » 

AUTHOR OP ' CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY,' ' THE DEITY,' ETC. 



' In labours more abundant.' 



LONDON : 

HODDEB & STOUGHTON, PATERNOSTER ROW; 
J. H. ROBINSON, 4, LONDON HOUSE YARD, ST PAUL'S. 
1872. 



J5XW5 
.MmsG, 



I i'07 D !<=( 

3o 

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JOHN GUILDS AND SON, PEINTEllS. 



PREFACE. 



The author, in preparing this memoir, had the advantage 
of knowing the late Mr Maughan intimately from the time 
he was a youth of 17 to the period of his death. His con- 
version to God, his early studies, his youthful temptations, 
and his first efforts as a local preacher, were known to the 
author by personal intercourse while labouring in the New- 
castle Circuit ; and the subsequent career of our departed 
friend was almost as well known from conjoint labours, 
frequent interviews, and a constant correspondence. 

In designating our brother ' A man of all work/ the 
author uses not the words of exaggeration, but of sober 
truth. He never knew a man more devoted to his work, 
nor many more adapted to those diversified labours which 
the exigencies of the present day claim from the ministers of 
Christ. He was fluent both with his pen and his tongue, and 
as much at home on the platform as in the pulpit ; and 
though a diligent student, he was a devoted pastor. No 
duties seemed irksome to him, and none beneath him. The 
humblest services were performed with as much fidelity as 
the highest of the ministerial office. He scorned to eat the 
bread of idleness, or to fritter away his life in evening 
parties and social pleasures. He lived in earnest, and he 



iv 



PEE PACE. 



lived for God and the good of man. There was energy and 
purpose in all that he did ; and though his life was short if 
counted by years, it was long if reckoned by labours. 

It would have been easy to enlarge this memoir to twice 
its dimensions; but, following the guidance of Scripture 
precedent, the author thought it better to condense than to 
expand, and aim to interest the reader by variety instead of 
wearying him by prolixity. 

In order that our departed friend might be known by 
what he said as well as by what he did, I have selected a 
few of his sermons and lectures ; and thus, though dead, 
some portion of his living utterances may benefit the living. 

While this volume is prepared solely as a labour of love 
by the author, the beneficence of friends, who knew and 
appreciated the worth of our departed brother, having de- 
frayed the cost of printing and binding this volume, has 
thereby rendered the book at once a memorial of high 
esteem for his character, and a tribute of sincere sympathy 
and affection for his excellent and devoted wife, who largely 
shared in his toils, and cheerfully sacrificed her personal and 
domestic comforts for his usefulness. Therefore, any friend 
promoting the circulation of this volume will thereby pro- 
mote the welfare of the widow and her family. 

The author dedicates this volume to Mrs Catherine 
Maughan, the widow of his deceased friend, as a memento 
of esteem, not only for her domestic virtues and high Chris- 
tian character, but also her self-denying and exemplary, 
though unobtrusive labours, in facilitating and promoting 
the usefulness of her devoted husband. 



London, March, 1872. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. PAGE 

I. MR MAUGHAN'S EARLY LIFE AND CONVERSION TO GOD, 

1826—1847 . . . . . . . . . . 1 

II. HIS CALL TO THE MINISTRY, AND THE PERIOD OF 

HIS PROBATION, 1847—1851 . . .. . . . 13 

III. HIS LABOURS IN LONDON, 1852-4 . . . . . . 23 

IV. MR MATJGHAN'S LABOURS IN LEEDS AND DUDLEY, 

1854—1858 . . . . . . . . 29 

V. MR MAUGHAN'S LABOURS IN BRISTOL, 1859—1862 . . 34 

VI. VOYAGE TO AUSTRALIA, AND COMMENCEMENT OP HIS 

MISSION, 1862-3 . . . . . . 53 

VII. MR MAUGHAN'S LABOURS IN ADELAIDE, 1863-4 . . 70 

VIII. LABOURS IN ADELAIDE, ETC., 1865-6 . . . . 86 

IX. P AILING HEALTH AND ARDUOUS LABOURS, 1867-8 . . 96 

X. MR MAUGHAN'S VISIT TO ENGLAND, 1869 .. .. 112 

XI. MR MAUGHAN'S RETURN TO ADELAIDE, 1870 .. 135 



Vi CONTENTS. 

CHAP. PAGE 
XII. ME, MAUGHAN'S LAST HOURS, AKD THE FUNERAL 

SERVICE . . . . . . . . . . 147 

XIII. ESTIMATE OF MR MAUGHAN'S CHARACTER . . . . 167 

SERMONS, etc. 

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL . . . . . . 181 

ON THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEPARTED SOULS . . 194 

ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD . . . . . . 209 

THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH . . . . 223 

MR BAXTER AND LOUIS NAPOLEON . . . . . . 239 

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCRATES . . . . . . 276 



MEMOIR 

OF 

THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN- 



CHAPTER I. 

ME MAUGHAN^S EAELT LIFE AND CONVERSION TO GOD, 
1826 — 1847. 

If the development of mind were dependent on 
the advantages and facilities afforded by wealth and 
leisure, few would attain to eminence. But native 
energy will rise superior to external difficulties, and 
cut out for itself a path to high excellence through 
thorns, briars, and rocks. History abounds with ex- 
amples of this truth, and in this class Mr Maughan 
takes a place, if not so exalted as some, yet one highly 
honourable to himself and to the Denomination to 
which through life he was loyally attached. What- 
ever attainments he reached, and in several depart- 
ments of knowledge they were far more than ordinary, 
resulted from irrepressible energy and activity. In 
every sense he was a self-made man. 

But usefulness is a higher attribute than knowledge, 
and in this Mr Maughan surpassed not a few of his 
contemporaries. His ministry was the means of con- 



2 



MEMOIR OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAM - . 



version to many and of edification to many thousands ; 
and assuredly he made all his acquisitions subservient 
to this as the supreme end of his life, as will be seen 
in the following brief record of his history. 

The Rev. James Maughan was the son of James 
and Isabella Maughan, and was born October 25, 1826, 
in the village of Hepburn, near Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
His father died before the birth of his son, and the . 
widowed mother had to struggle with the privations 
of her desolate condition. But she was a woman of 
industry, natural fortitude, and true piety ; and her 
religion taught her to trust in Him who is the Husband 
of the widow and the Father of the fatherless. James 
was baptized at Jarrow, the place rendered memorable 
by the life and labours of the Venerable Bede. After 
a few years Mrs Maughan was married again, which 
appears to have been no disadvantage to her only 
child, as James was regularly carried by his step- 
father to the house of God, and when old enough was 
sent to the village school. His good mother cheerfully 
lent her influence to instil the principles and duties of 
religion into his mind. 

At an early period James showed his self-reliant 
disposition, for when only eight years of age he 
resolved to work, in order as far as possible to earn 
his own living. The family removed for a time to 
Wallsend, the village renowned for its excellent coal ; 
and when James was about 12 years old his parents 
removed further to the village of Seatonburn, six miles 
north of Newcastle. Here James enjoyed for a short 
time the privilege of education at a school in the 
neighbourhood, under the patronage of the Rev. Mr 



EARLY LIFE AND CONVERSION. 



3 



Clayton, a minister of the Church of England ; and 
had this advantage been continued, he would have been 
better prepared to enter, at a subsequent period, 
upon the duties of public life. But after twelve short 
months this privilege was cut off by the necessity of 
his returning to labour for the bread that perisheth. 
James was resolved, however, to make the best of his 
position, by attending a night school, and by abridging 
his sleep to about five or six hours each night, and by 
diligent application to study during the hours he thus 
redeemed from his pillow and from play. 

At the age of 14 he was seized with the rheumatic 
fever; but what effect this affliction had upon his 
mind does not appear. To promote his recovery he 
was sent to reside for a short time with his aunt at 
North Shields ; and while there an incident occurred 
which brought out his mechanical genius. Being 
favoured with the loan of his father's watch, one day, 
while sitting quietly on the sand of the sea- shore, he 
heard the ticking of the watch, and he said to himself, 
' I wonder what it is that makes the watch tick ? Pll 
look inside and see/ Taking out his pen-knife, he 
unscrewed part of the mechanism, and whizz went the 
wheels, until the chain had run down. Having 
proceeded thus far, his curiosity was increased, and he 
took the whole works to pieces for full inspection. 
He found, however, it was much easier to undo than 
reconstruct the works, and after putting the watch 
together as he thought, he was perplexed to find that 
it would not tick, for he had almost as many wheels 
left out as he had put in. Trying again and again, 
however, he at last succeeded, and to his great satis- 



4 MEMOIE OF THE EEV. JAMES HAEGHAN. 



faction the experiment afforded him a knowledge of 
the construction of the time-piece ; and on his return 
home he bought a number of tools, and set up clock 
cleaner and repairer to the whole village. 

On his recovery he resumed both his daily labour 
and his studies, and his intense application during his 
spare hours enabled him to outstrip those who had 
been his school-fellows ; and it became evident that he 
was destined for a position higher than that of 
working at a colliery. This was observed by those 
who were competent to estimate his natural gifts and 
early attainments, and at the age of 16 he was ap- 
pointed by the colliery manager to be the master of 
the village school. Now, the difficulties which had 
hitherto obstructed his progress were giving way, and 
his path to higher attainments began to widen and 
brighten before him. Let young men learn from this 
how much depends upon themselves. Had James 
been indolent, he would have risen no higher than the 
station in which he was born. His diligence when a 
boy was the first step to his advancement and useful- 
ness when a man. But something more than industry 
was wanted — namely, religion, without which even 
gifts and literary acquirements cannot develop the 
man. Sin, indeed, may render them a snare and per- 
vert them to a curse. Youth has its temptations, and 
too often its follies. James JVTaughan was now about 
1 6 years of age, and as yet he had not given his heart 
to God. In fact, led away by some profane youths, he 
had become a neglecter of Divine worship, and was in 
danger of sinking into vicious habits. But after 
living about two years as a Sabbath-breaker, he was 



EARLY LIFE AND CONVERSION. 



5 



awakened to a keen sense of his sin and danger, 
and conviction was followed by sound conversion to 
God. The occasion and manner of this gracious 
change are best stated in his own words. Young men, 
just ponder what he says ! 

' At an early period of my life I felt the bitterness 
of sin, and I put the inquiry, " What must I do to be 
saved ? " I heard of others who had been equally un- 
happy with myself, but who had found pardon and 
peace through faith in the precious blood of Christ. I 
instantly resolved in the same way to seek the same 
Saviour, and I did not seek Him long before I found 
Him, to the satisfaction and delight of my soul. 

' My conversion to God was effected under the fol- 
lowing circumstances : 

' I had been accustomed from my infancy to attend 
a Sabbath-school. When about 14 years of age I 
became associated with sinful companions, and was 
induced by them to leave the house of worship, and 
spend my Sabbaths in the lanes and fields. From one 
degree of sinfulness I was led on to another. For 
about two years I continued openly to rebel against 
God and against the counsels of my conscience. 
About this time a number of Christian young men 
had formed themselves into a Temperance Society. 
They urged me to forsake my companions, to sign the 
temperance pledge, and to join myself to their little 
band. I did so, and these young men were the means 
in God's hand of bringing me to Christ. I was at 
once made the secretary of the Temperance Society, 
and was urged by some of its members to accompany 
them to the house of God. 



6 



MEMOIR OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



' About this time a most gracious and extensive 
revival of God's work began in a village called West- 
moor, under the labours of our estimable minister, the 
Kev. Andrew Lynn. I was urged by my newly-formed 
companions to accompany them to what was called a 
Union camp-meeting and public lovefeast at that 
place. I went to mock, but I returned to pray. 
Shortly after the lovefeast commenced, a youth about 
my own age rose up, and began to describe his miser- 
able condition prior to his conversion. I said to 
myself, " That is just the condition in which I am 
now/'' He then went on to describe how happy he 
had been ever since his conversion to God. I now 
felt that this was the very thing and the only thing 
that could make me truly happy. After this another 
rose, and another, and another, and as they went on 
to bless God, and declare what great things He had 
done for their souls, the big tears started in my eyes, 
and the more I attempted to suppress them the more 
rapidly they chased each other down my cheeks. At 
length the lovefeast was concluded. I did not dare to 
remain at the prayer-meeting, lest I should be com- 
pelled to cry aloud for mercy. I therefore made my 
escape from the meeting, intending to make my way 
home as quickly and as quietly as I could. 

' I had four miles to walk, but I had not proceeded 
far on my journey before I overtook some other young 
persons, who had been to the same place. After 
walking tog-ether for some distance in dead silence, 
one of them drew a deep sigh. " Well/' he said, u how 
did you like the lovefeast ? 33 I replied, " I never liked 
anything so well in my whole life." " Neither did I/' 



EARLY LIFE AND CONVERSION. 



7 



said a second. " Neither did I," said a third. I added, 
" I liked it so well that I have determined never to rest 
until I get converted." " So have I/' exclaimed they 
all at once. " Well, then/' exclaimed one of the party, 
" if we are all of one mind let us go over into this field 
and have a prayer-meeting." Whether we went over 
the gate or through the gateway I never could recol- 
lect, but in a few moments we were every one upon 
our knees, pleading with God for mercy. Two of the 
company professed to find salvation there and then, 
but I continued in bitterness and bondage for many 
days ; I scarcely dared to sleep at night, lest I should 
be cut off in my sins, and perish. At length, one 
morning about 4 o' clock, I rose and went into a field 
to pray. There behind a hedge I knelt upon a stone — 
the place I never shall forget — and became liberated 
from bondage. A flood of heavenly light burst upon 
my soul, and from that day to the present I have been 
happy in the love of God. Shortly after this I became 
tinctured with Barkerianism, and was in danger of 
being led astray. But by the kind and timely counsels 
and by the happy and efficient ministry of my beloved 
friend and father, the Rev. William Cooke, I was pre- 
served from so dire an apostasy. I have now been 
identified with the Church of Christ for more than ten 
years, and during that period have become more and 
more convinced that the Christian religion is a divine 
adaptation to man's moral necessities ; that the practice 
of its principles is the highest development of wisdom ; 
and that Wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and 
all her paths are paths of peace. If I know anything 
of my own heart, I would not give up the possession 



8 MEMOIR OP THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

of religion to take possession of the world's empire. 

' My greatest desire on earth is that I may adorn 
the doctrines of God my Saviour, and the object of 
my highest ambition is to become possessed of the 
mind that was in Christ. May God help me ! 

' Though I have to acknowledge' that my requitals of 
obedience and love have been far from commensurate 
with my obligation to God, yet I am thankful that I 
have been enabled with confidence and constancy to 
repose my soul by simple faith on the great atonement ; 
and I believe that I can testify, without the fear of 
presumption, that Christ is formed in my heart the 
hope of eternal glory/ 

See here, my young friends, what religion did for 
him ! It rescued him from bad companions and bad 
habits • it delivered him from conscious misery and 
impending degradation and ruin ; it renewed his nature 
and transformed his life ; it implanted within him new 
principles, and began in him a new history, one of vir- 
tue, happiness, and usefulness. Had he remained un- 
converted, who can tell what a vicious and miserable 
course he would have run ; how deeply he would have 
sunk into sin himself, and how many others he would 
have dragged down to perdition by his evil counsel and 
corrupt example ? All this evil was averted, and a 
life bright with happiness, honour, and usefulness was 
secured by early piety. The fact pleads with eloquent 
force — f Young men, give your hearts to God/ The 
clearness and the genuineness of his conversion, too, 
show the importance of not resting in reformation or 
mere profession. Young Maughan believed in the 



EARLY LIFE AND CONVERSION. 



9 



knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of sins, and 
he sought night and day for the blessing until he found 
it. So may the reader, and so must the reader seek until 
he find the blessing, if he would be a strong, happy, use- 
ful Christian. Those are but poor, feeble, unhappy pro- 
fessors who live without a clear sense of pardon, and 
they are never fitted for great enterprises and abundant 
usefulness. They are incessantly haunted by doubts 
and fears, and have no heart or energy to labour. 
Young men, get right at first by a sound conversion 
and a clear sense of pardon, attested by the direct wit- 
ness of the Holy Spirit, and then you can set to your 
seal that God is true, and that religion is a Divine 
reality, a transforming power, and a priceless posses- 
sion. When it is your happiness to enjoy religion, it will 
be your element and delight to diffuse it ; labour will 
spring from love, and your efforts will be accompanied 
with power. 

In the paragraph we have quoted young Maughan 
refers to the critical period when he was endangered 
by the prevalence of pernicious errors. The author of 
this volume well remembers the frequent interviews 
he had with him at that time. I was just then com- 
mencing my labours in the Newcastle Circuit, to which 
I was sent to build up the broken walls of Zion, and 
defend as well as preach the truth of God. Almost 
every Saturday afternoon James came in his homely 
round jacket to my house with a written list of ques- 
tions on Biblical topics. Of course I felt pleasure in 
solving his doubts, answering his inquiries, and impart- 
ing such instruction as he seemed to need. Nor was 
this all : every time my appointments called me to 



10 



MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



preach, under his parents' roof James was sure to meet 
me about a mile or two on the way, and after the service 
it was his custom to return with me several miles on 
my way home. The intercourse was very pleasant to 
myself, and beneficial to the young man. Happily he 
was disentangled from the snares of error ; and be 
always regarded the help he then received as the 
means of establishing him in the truth, of fostering his 
piety, and stimulating his Biblical studies. If young 
men are troubled with doubts, let them by all means 
shun the counsels of the sceptic, and seek the friendly 
aid and guidance of some matured Christian, who is 
not ignorant of Satan's devices. The writer himself 
when a youth was sorely perplexed with doubts. On 
one occasion he walked a number of miles to seek the 
counsel of a wise and well-matured Christian, and by 
this means, and by prayer to God, the snare was broken, 
and his soul rejoiced in the light of truth and freedom. 

James Maughan was now 17 years of age, and I 
called his attention to the duty of writing his thoughts 
on portions of Scripture, in hope that at a period not 
far distant his attainments might qualify him for the 
office of a local preacher. He complied with my 
request, and from time to time submitted his composi- 
tion to my judgment ; and such was the character of 
those early efforts that I felt persuaded he was destined 
for usefulness as a preacher. He continued his studies 
with unabating diligence, and when about 18 he and 
another pious young man, named Matthew Stoves, were 
requested to unite in taking an appointment at the 
small village of Jesmond Vale. Soon afterwards he 
was desired to have his name put on the plan, as an 



HIS EAELY LABOUES. 



11 



exliorter. This, however, was an undertaking which 
required some consideration. He was at that time 
occupying the position of clerk at the village church, 
and his appointments as an exhorter or local preacher 
would interfere with his official duties. Moreover, co- 
incident with this, the clergyman who had previously 
shown much interest in his welfare proposed his going 
to college, to graduate for ordination as a minister in 
the National Church, offering at the same time to 
provide the necessary means. This proposal involved 
a conflict between principle and interest. On the one 
hand there was the prospect of ease, honour, and afflu- 
ence ; on the other, straitness, obscurity, and hard 
toil. But with the latter there were purity of doctrine, 
Scriptural discipline, precious means of grace, and his 
obligation to the people to whom under God he owed 
his salvation. He laid the case before me, and the 
conversation issued in a resolve to sacrifice every 
advantage, and abide with his own people. He there- 
fore respectfully declined the offer of the clergyman, 
resigned his position as clerk of the church, and de- 
voted his Sabbaths to zealous labours for the interest 
of his own Denomination. In acting thus young 
Maughan displayed that high principle and inflexible 
decision of character which is worthy of imitation as well 
as commendation. He was no trimmer, no self-seeker, 
no time-server ; he got his religion in our Denomina- 
tion, and he felt bound by gratitude and moral obliga- 
tion to give it his labours and his life at all costs, and 
he conscientiously acted out his convictions to the end 
of his days. In this decision, however, he had no idea 
of seeking a place in our ministry. In fact, he had too 



12 



MEMOIR OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



low an estimate of his own powers and too exalted a view 
of the duties and responsibilities of the ministerial office 
for such an idea. Nevertheless, he continued to pur- 
sue his studies with unremitting diligence, and became 
increasingly acceptable as a local preacher. 



13 



CHAPTER II. 

HIS CALL TO THE MINISTRY) AND THE PERIOD OP HIS 
PROBATION,, 1847—1851. 

In the year 1847 the Rev. Jonathan Tate, a very 
pious and promising young minister, labouring in the 
Mossley Circuit, was compelled by serious illness to 
retire from his work, and James Maughan was re- 
quested by the Connexional authorities to supply his 
place. At first he positively declined ; and when at 
last, after repeated solicitations, he consented, he did 
so with much tremulous apprehension. Certainly at 
this period he could have no secular inducements ; for 
his income from various sources had lately increased 
to about £100 per annum, while his salary as a single 
preacher would be only £60. The probability is, how- 
ever, that the question of income had no influence at 
all in fixing his decision. Higher and holier con- 
siderations than any earthly motives influenced his 
heart — the love of Christ inspiring him with the love 
of precious souls. This is the grand motive which 
forms a high and holy character. Just as a firm 
foundation is requisite for the safety of a building, so 



14 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



are sound principles required as the "basis of a con- 
sistent and upright character; and such were the 
principles of Mr Maughan' s whole life. Hence there 
was no instability in his connexional attachment, no 
wavering in his principles, no trimming in his conduct, 
from the beginning to the end of his career. 

When Mr Maughan left home for the ministry he 
found his position was altogether new. He had never 
before been 20 miles from his own fireside, and 
had lived scarcely a week away from under the parental 
roof. But he was now among strangers, and before 
the end of the year he felt rather home- sick. There- 
fore when the Conference came he hastened to his old 
abode to spend his holidays there. But, if absence 
from home had made him a little uneasy, he soon 
found leisure to be intolerable. He spent the first 
day in chatting with his parents, the second day in 
conversing with his old friends ; on the third day he 
felt dull for want of occupation, and on the fourth he 
told his mother he could bear idleness no longer, 
and must go back to his work. Therefore, though 
free from obligation, away he went back to his Circuit 
and resumed his accustomed labour up to the day he 
had to repair to the new sphere of his ministry. 

At the next Conference (1848) Mr Maughan was 
received as a minister on probation, and appointed to 
the Bradford Circuit. His superintendent was the 
B,ev. Lot Saxton. Mr Maughan resided, however, at 
Otley, where his labours were abundantly owned of 
God. There was a revival of religion in the Church, 
many souls were saved, and in the Otley society alone 
there was an increase of 54 members during the year. 



HIS EARLY MINISTERIAL LABOURS . 



15 



After leaving Bradford, in 1849, he was appointed 
to Macclesfield with the Eev. John Addyman. We have 
no particulars of his labours here ; but we doubt not he 
and his esteemed colleague worked together in perfect 
harmony, and the minutes report an increase of eight 
members. 

In 1850 Mr Maughan was appointed to Derby, the 
venerable Thomas Waterhouse being his super- 
intendent. We have no special information as to his 
labour in this Circuit; but we find an increase of 15 
members, which may be regarded as indicative of 
harmony between the ministers, and a proof of some 
success in their work. 

At the Conference of 1851 Mr Maughan was 
stationed in the Dewsbury Circuit, with the Eev. James 
Henshaw as his superintendent, lately deceased. Here 
again our information is scanty. Mr Maughan resided 
at Batley, and his spirit being roused by the prevalence 
of drunkenness, he issued and printed two appeals to 
the public, and called a Conference of Sunday-school 
teachers to adopt the best means for saving the rising 
youth from the vice of intemperance. Deploring also 
the spiritual indifference of the people, he formed a 
committee for visiting the population from house to 
house to induce the negligent to attend Divine worship. 
This was preceded by writing an earnest appeal, of 
which 1000 copies were printed and put into circula- 
tion. A copy of this appeal now lies before me, and 
I reproduce it here as worthy of a permanent record. 

1 Dear Neighbours and Friends, 

' Our minds have been for some time past painfully 



16 



MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



exercised on account of the prevalence of a spirit of 
carelessness in our village, in reference to public 
worship. Our object is not a sectarian one, but, as 
the professed followers of Him who came to seek and 
to save the lost, we feel it to be our duty to warn you 
of the fearful consequences of such conduct — not in 
the spirit of dictation, but in that of kindness and love. 
And we shall be amply rewarded if we can induce 
those who are living in the neglect of public worship 
to think seriously on the subject, and promptly to 
attend to a duty so important and indispensable. We 
appeal 

' 1st, To Heads of Families. — We know the deep 
feelings and intense anxieties of parents for the 
welfare of their children ; but that welfare can only be 
secured by their walking in the paths of piety ; for 
" there is no peace to the wicked." Yet are you not 
by neglecting the House of God, and the ordinances 
of Divine worship, adopting a course that directly 
tends to promote the impiety and consequent misery 
of your children ? " Train up a child in the way he 
should go" is a direction in the Word of God. 
" Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord" is also a Divine injunction: and, depend upon 
it, these are not idle words. What, think you, is the 
meaning of that awful passage of Holy Writ, "I will 
pour My fury upon the families that call not on My 
name?" " Them that honour Me I will honour : but 
they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed." 

' As parents, have you no forebodings about the 
future ? Do you never think of the day when, with 
your children, you shall stand before the tribunal of 



HIS EARLY MINISTERIAL LABOURS. 



17 



God ? Is it not possible — nay, is it not very likely — 
that if you continue to lead them in the paths of sin, 
they will attribute their final destruction to your bad 
example ? We beseech you, for your own sake — for the 
sake of your dear children — abandon your GoD-dis- 
honouring practices ; revere God's blessed name ; keep 
holy the Sabbath-day; attend constantly and punctually 
upon the ordinances of God's house; join in the 
choruses of thanksgiving which are raised there, and 
thus get prepared to sing the anthems of the skies. 
* But we also appeal 

' 2nd, To the Young. — Dear young friends — we 
assure you it is with feelings of sympathy for your 
present — and deep anxiety for your future — happiness, 
that we thus address you. God has said, "I love 
them that love Me : and they that seek Me early shall 
find Me." And again, He commands — " Bemember 
now thy Creator in the days of thy youth." 

( Reasons the most momentous and weighty might 
here be given, did our space permit, why you ought 
in early life to abandon your sins, attend upon the 
ordinances of public worship, and give your hearts to 
God. But we must forbear, observing, however, that 
our minds have been greatly pained, and our spirits 
have almost sunk within us, when we have noticed, 
as we have done from Sabbath to Sabbath, such 
numbers of our young men and women ivandering in 
the fields, standing in the streets, or idling at their homes, 
when they ought to he attending the worship of God's 
House : and the inquiry has been forced upon us again 
and again — What can be done to arrest the attention 
of the young people of our village, and lead them to a 



18 



MEMOIR OE THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



concern for their souls ? We love you — we feel for 
you — we pray for you — we thus address you, and we 
beseech you, as immortal and accountable beings, turn 
not a deaf ear to our entreaty, as you value everlasting 
happiness; hear us, as you deprecate everlasting 
misery; hear us, for the sake of a dying, interceding, 
loving Redeemer; have mercy upon yourself, and seek 
salvation — " Seek the Lord, while He may be found ; 
call upon Him while He is near/-' " Let the wicked 
forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, 
and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy 
upon him ; and to our God, for He will abundantly 
pardon." "For, behold, the day conieth, saith the 
Lord, that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, 
yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble ; and 
the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the 
Lord of Hosts. " 

' If you are not accustomed to attend any place of 
worship, we beg to inform you that we shall he most 
happy to see you every Sunday morning at half -past 
ten, and evening at six o'clock, in the Methodist New 
Connexion Chapel. 

i " Come with us, and we will do you good : for 
the Lord hath spoken good concerning you." 3 
' Yours affectionately, 

'THE VISITING COMMITTEE/ 

What was the effect of this appeal and of the house- 
to-house visitation we do not know, but the effort 
itself was good and necessary. Such efforts indeed 
ought everywhere to be made where the cause is low 
and the population indifferent to religion. We have no 



HIS EARLY MINISTERIAL LABOURS. 



19 



idea of letting things remain as they are when the masses 
of our fellow-men are asleep in their sins, or of being 
content with our sanctuaries half filled when there 
are thousands of men and women around us living and 
dying without salvation. The people must be aroused, 
and the Church must do it, and the Church herself 
must be aroused by the ministry. As preachers we 
stand in the front of the Lord's host, and must take 
the lead in every form of spiritual activity, and work 
vigorously ourselves while we summon others to 
labour. 

It would be wrong to withhold our testimony here 
to the extraordinary efforts which our friends in this 
Circuit have put forth within the last 17 years. 
Within that period they have built a number of 
chapels, three of them of considerable magnitude. In 
1854, at Batley, a new and beautiful chapel was built, 
which, after standing only 15 years, was taken down 
to its foundation, and the present spacious temple 
erected — the largest perhaps in the whole Denomina- 
tion, except Bethesda in the Hanley Circuit. It adds 
to the honour of our friends that an arrangement is 
made for the total extinction of the debt within three 
years. At Dewsbury the old chapel was taken down 
a few years ago, and the present beautiful and com- 
modious structure erected, the debt on which is being 
reduced at the rate of about £200 per annum, and 
will ere long be totally removed. The old building at 
Adwalton has also been taken down, and a neat chapel 
erected, adapted to the growing population. These 
and other efforts of a similar kind display a degree of 
generosity and love to the cause of Christ highly 



20 MEMOIR OP THE EEV. JAMES MATJGHAN. 

honourable to the friends, and present an example 
worthy of imitation. 

According to connexional usage, Mr Maughan had 
now completed the term of his probation, and was 
received as a preacher in full connexion by the Confer- 
ence. On this occasion he witnessed a good confession 
before a large assembly of people, and as a statement 
of the motives which induced him to enter the minis- 
try was then given and is preserved in writing, we 
give it in his own words : — 

' From the very first day on which I obtained a 
sense of the pardoning mercy of God I became power- 
fully impressed with a sense of my obligation to devote 
my heart and life to His service and glory. 

( The first thing I did after my conversion was to 
purchase for myself a small pocket Bible, and the very 
first passage of that Bible on which my eye alighted 
was that in, which the Apostle Peter embodies the 
whole history of the Redeemer's life in this wise but 
expressive sentence, " He went about doing good." I 
saw that Christ was my pat'tern ; that if I would be a 
Christian I must follow in His footsteps ; I therefore 
resolved to give my heart and my hand to every 
organization which had for its object the benefit of 
man and the glory of God. I joined the Church, be- 
came a teacher in the Sabbath- school, a distributor of 
tracts, a visitor for the Bible Society, the leader of a 
class, and at length a local preacher of the Circuit. 
Here I cannot but acknowledge my obligations to the 
very kind and affectionate counsel which during this 
period I received at the hands of one who has ever 



HE COMPLETES HIS PEOBATION. 



21 



been as a father to me in the ministry, I mean the 
Kev. William Cooke. Shortly after he had left the 
town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1846, 1 was called upon 
by the Church to set myself apart to the work of the 
ministry. To this call I gave a positive refusal. In 
the first place, I shrank from the solemn and import- 
ant duties of an oflice for which I felt myself so little 
capable. In the second place, I had understood that 
a man must feel inwardly called of God before he 
ought to enter upon such a work. Believing myself, 
therefore, to be destitute both of the qualifications and 
of the call, I repeatedly persisted in my refusal. At 
length, however, the call of the Church became so 
loud and urgent, that I was satisfied it must come from 
God. I therefore at once placed myself at the dis- 
posal of the Church, and was employed in its ministry. 
I have now laboured for nearly six years in preaching 
Christ, and Him crucified ; I trust that I have not 
laboured in vain. I have reason to believe that many 
precious souls have been saved by God's blessing upon 
my ministry ; and so long as I continue to be useful 
in the Church I shall consider it to be the highest 
honour and most distinguished privilege of my life to 
preach the everlasting gospel. So soon as my useful- 
ness in that Church shall cease I trust that I shall 
not be found to remain in the priest's office merely for 
a morsel of bread. 

'I pray that God may yet give to my ministry 
many thousands of seals, such as shall stand for ever/ 

His views on Church government as the ground of 
his approval of his own Denomination were given at 
the same time, and they deserve recording for their 
clearness and candour. 



22 



MEMOIR OF THE EEY. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



' I think that nothing can be more equitable than 
that the Church comprehensively considered should 
govern itself. I do not consider that the ministers 
alone constitute the Church, nor that the members 
alone form that constitution. I believe that the 
Church is formed by its ministers, officers, and mem- 
bers, and therefore it seems to me most equitable and 
reasonable that the Church should be governed under 
some well-defined regulation conjointly by these. 

' On referring to the New Testament, I find the 
Saviour commanding His disciples to refer their dif- 
ferences to the Church. The Apostle called upon the 
Corinthian Church to cut off an unworthy member, 
and frequently in the New Testament we find the 
ministers and members of the Church uniting their 
counsels and authority in the exercise of discipline 
and in the management of its affairs. I believe, there- 
fore, that the equitable and reasonable principle of lay 
and ministerial representation finds its germ in the 
precepts and practices of the New Testament. 

' I do not find either the Lord Jesus Christ or any 
of His apostles laying down any particular system of 
government for the management of His Church. The 
general principles are supplied. The details are left 
to be modified according to the exigencies of the 
places and times in which the Church exists. 

' I do not think that the polity of the Methodist 
New Connexion has yet attained perfection, but I be- 
lieve that it contains provisions for that attainment of 
which few other Denominations of the Christian Church 
are yet in possession.'' 



23 



CHAPTER III. 

HIS LABOURS IN LONDON, 1852-4. 

Mr Maughan's next appointment, 1852, was Lon- 
don. Our cause in the metropolis was at that time very 
limited and low. We had but two chapels, — Brunswick, 
in Dover- street, a small one in Watney- street in the 
East, and a few friends in the north of the metropolis ; 
in all only 117 members. Brunswick Chapel was dingy 
and much in need of cleansing and repairing, both inside 
and out, and the congregation was extremely small. 
Great as the discouragements were, Mr Maughan did 
not fold his hands in indolence, or sit down in despair, 
but resolved to grapple with every difficulty, and do his 
utmost to raise the Circuit to prosperity. One day, 
on surveying the chapel, he exclaimed, ' We will have 
that chapel renovated, and by the help of God the 
Church doubled in number/ Some incredulously 
smiled at the utterance ; but Mr Maughan set to work. 
He obtained estimates, and ascertained that about 
£180 would be required for repairing and painting the 
chapel ; and at once he employed the workmen, and 



24 MEMOIR OP THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



made himself responsible for the whole amount. The 
friends, however, liberally subscribed, and the whole 
was paid. 

The house of God being renovated and made 
comfortable within and attractive without, the next 
desideratum was to fill it with people. To this end 
Mr Maughan sought to arouse the multitudes of care- 
less inhabitants around the place, by issuing a plain, 
pointed, and earnest address, to which he headed, in 
large letters, the following title, — ' Four Facts, Three 
Questions, and an Invitation. 

'Dear friend, there are four solemn, startling facts 
before you — Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. 

' Are you aware that if you neglect the salvation of 
your precious soul you must be judged, and be for 
ever condemned by Almighty God ? 

'How do you spend your Sabbaths ? Do you attend 
the house of God ? Nothing can be more important 
than that you should at once make your peace with 
God, and be prepared for heaven. 

' If you have not done this already, the friends and 
ministers of Brunswick Chapel, in Great Dover-street, 
will rejoice to see you every Sunday morning at 1 1 
o'clock, and evening at six, where you will hear words 
whereby you may be saved. 

' Come with us, and we will do you good, for the 
Lord hath spoken good concerning you/ 

He had 1000 copies of this circular printed and 
distributed. At the same time he formed what he 
called a c vigilant committee/ consisting of about eight 
friends whose special work was to attend to strangers, 
and put them into seats, lend them hymn-books, and 



HIS LABOURS IN LONDON. 



25 



speak a kind word of invitation. This committee 
were also to note any seat-liolders who might be 
absent, to look them up by personal visitation, and 
exert themselves in every prudent way to increase the 
congregation, and induce serious persons to become 
decided for God. He also organized a Tract Society, 
in order both to find suitable work for the people and 
bring strangers to the house of God. 

By these means Mr Maughan both encouraged 
and roused the friends ; they rallied around him, 
worked vigorously and gave liberally. The congrega- 
tion was increased ; the Church, as if inspired with new 
life, put forth augmented energy, and increased in 
number and efficiency. 

Our few worthy friends in the North of London, 
at great expense, and for 20 years had rented 
successively two or three chapels and as many rooms 
without success, and at this period they were reduced 
to about 12 persons, and had no place at all in which 
to worship God ; in fact, they had lost hope, and were 
just kept from extinction as a society by meeting 
occasionally in the house of one of our friends. It is 
hardly possible to conceive a case more hopeless, and 
any ordinary mind would have given up the cause in 
utter despair. Mr Maughan, however, knew nothing 
of despondency, but he knew well how to rally the 
hopes of others. He resolved in the name of God to 
give up no cause, however low, but tax his utmost 
resources of ingenuity, influence, and labour, to 
breathe new life into this dying Church, and to follow 
that effort by the erection of a suitable chapel in the 
North of London. Happily for us, one among the 



26 MEMOIR OP TEE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



12 members was a man of considerable wealth, and bis 
liberality was equal to bis means. Mr Bichard Barford 
was bis name. He loved tbe Connexion, and was 
willing to do anything to sustain tbe feeble cause so 
long as tbere was tbe least hope ; but be, like the rest, 
had almost sunk into chronic despair. Mr Maughan' s 
frequent visits, abundant labours, and earnest spirit 
revived the expiring hopes of our friend, and he pro- 
mised the sum of £500 for a new chapel. This 
generous benefaction stimulated the liberality of others, 
especially one friend whose generosity was greater 
than his ability, and who now became treasurer to the 
new chapel fund, and supplied the means for pay- 
ments as they were required. To economize as much 
as possible, the services of a professional architect 
were dispensed with, the plans were furnished gratui- 
tously or at the lowest cost, by Mr M'Landsbro' of 
Otley; Mr Lorden, one of our friends, superintended 
the building at little expense ; our loug-tried and 
valued friend Mr Webber gave his judgment and help 
in every extremity, and Mr Maughan himself acted as 
clerk of the works. This entailed numerous journeys 
and immense labour on Mr Maughan ; and what with 
begging, visiting, advising, corresponding, superin- 
tending, and discharging the ordinary duties of the 
Circuit, he got through the work of at least two 
ordinary men. But he had at that time an excel- 
lent constitution, with great elasticity and energy 
of mind; and he saw the building rise from its 
foundation to its summit, and the desire of his heart 
was accomplished. The Britannia Fields Chapel 
is a monument at this day of his courage, enterprise, 



HIS LABOUES IN LONDON". 



27 



and zeal ; and though the Church itself has passed 
through great vicissitudes and trials, yet many precious 
souls have been saved within its sacred walls. 

It is gratifying to state that since then in London 
seven other chapels have been built, and three others 
have been purchased. One worthy friend, Mr E. H. 
Rabbits, gave £200 annually to the building of chapels, 
for eight years successively, Mr Love of Durham did 
the same, and other friends according to their means. 
So that this day, instead of two chapels, we have 
thirteen. Yet our cause in London is by no means 
satisfactory. There is, in fact, reason for profound 
humiliation. What we need just now in London 
is a pentecostal shower of Divine influence, so that 
our Churches may be more spiritual and our chapels 
crowded with hearers. 

Mr Maughan, amid all his engagements in London, 
had hitherto no ministerial colleagues. But he thought 
it was high time to supply himself with one of his own 
choice. He did so by taking to himself a wife who in 
no small degree lightened his cares and sweetened his 
duties, and added to his enjoyments. This interesting 
event took place March 8, 1854, towards the close of his 
second year in London. His bride was Miss Catherine 
Moss, a granddaughter of Mr Isaac Moss of Stockport, 
who was with our Denomination at its origin, in 1797, 
and died in its fellowship. This lady was in all 
respects suitable for Mr Maughan : belonging to the 
Connexion by birth and education, she was thoroughly 
interested in its welfare; devout and pious, she enjoyed 
its ordinances and sympathized with its spiritual 
prosperity ; zealous and active, she laboured with all 



28 MEMOIR OP THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



her miglit to promote its advancement; and full of 
tender affection for her husband, she made his home 
happy, and entered heartily into all his self-denying 
and laborious efforts to do good. In fact, the useful- 
ness of Mr Maugkan's life was greatly increased by 
his excellent and devoted wife. 

Mr Maughan left London after labouring two years, 
the numbers at Brunswick being nearly doubled, the 
chapel beautified, Britannia Chapel erected, and the 
Circuit generally greatly invigorated. He was fervently 
loved by all the people, and on leaving the Circuit he 
was presented with a tangible expression of their 
gratitude and esteem. Moreover, he made many 
lasting friends, and his name is as fragrant odour to 
those who knew him. 



29 



CHAPTER IV. 

MR MAUGHAN LABOURS IN LEEDS AND DUDLEY, 
1854 — 1858. 

Mr Maughan's appointment at the Conference of 
] 854 was Leeds. A good report had gone before him, 
and he was heartily welcomed by the people. On 
arriving at Hunslet, where he resided, he and his 
good wife were met by Mr Crampton, who took them 
to his own house, and bid them welcome at all times 
to his hospitality. Mr and Mrs Crampton breathed 
one spirit : they were both zealously attached to the 
cause, and proved their zeal by abundant labours and 
liberal contributions. They had a chair which they 
called the preacher's seat, and Mr Crampton used 
to say, in his own homely and warm-hearted manner, 
' When I became God's servant I opened my heart, 
my house, and my purse to the preachers.' In this, 
however, he was not alone. There are many others 
of the same spirit; in fact, Leeds has always been 
noted for its hospitality. We could mention some 
honourable names, but prudence forbids. 

The colleagues of Mr Maughan were the Revds. 
James Henshaw, his former superintendent, and W. 



30 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



N. Hall, two faithful and devoted men, the former 
just called to his reward, the latter labouring with 
distinguished zeal as a missionary in China. Mr 
Maughan worked with these brethren in perfect har- 
mony, and their conjoint labours were owned of God. 

It was at this time the spacious and eligible site 
was purchased for the erection of a noble chapel in 
Woodhouse Lane, which stands there as a monument 
of the liberality of our friends. And during the 
second year of his ministry another gratifying move- 
ment was originated and carried into effect, chiefly 
through the energy and liberality of Sunday-school 
teachers, namely, the erection of a commodious 
Sunday school-room at Yentnor-street. The Leeds 
friends have done a great work within the last 
20 years in the erection of chapels and schools, and 
their benevolent deeds are still continued from year 
to year. Woodhouse Lane, Hunslett, Dewsbury road, 
Hunslett Carr, &c, are monuments of their generosity. 
A little more Methodistic fire, however, is needed to 
give full effect to their liberality. 

Mr Maughan could never be content with the 
ordinary routine of duty. Labour was his element and 
delight, and if he could find a spare evening or an 
unoccupied hour, he was sure to invent some extra 
work to fill it up. Therefore, in addition to his regular 
Circuit work, he formed a class of 70 young men 
for their mental improvement, and this perhaps was 
the beginning of those special efforts he afterwards 
put forth in every Circuit for the advancement of young 
men in scientific as well as in theological knowledge. 
He zealously took up also the temperance cause, and 



HIS LABOUES IN LEEDS. 



31 



promoted tlie organization of a Young Men's Temper- 
ance Society; lie espoused the principle of the Main 
Law, and vigorously advocated the adoption of that law, 
both by public addresses and by an earnest and 
powerful appeal to the men and women of Leeds, 
10,000 copies of which were printed and put into circu- 
lation at the public expense. A copy of this address 
lies before me, and it contains some startling facts 
as to the baneful effects of intemperance, and solemnly 
calls upon old and young, rich and poor, ' to unite in 
one great effort to crush the many-headed hydra, and 
deliver the country from the curse of drunkenness. 

While Mr and Mrs Maughan were in Leeds 
the first visitation of domestic sorrow came upon 
them. Death entered their humble dwelling, and 
removed their first-born son from their embrace. 
This bereavement occurred while Mr Maughan 
was in London conducting the anniversary services 
of one of our chapels. The telegram conveying 
the sad intelligence was placed in his hand during 
the public meeting ; but true to his duty, he remained 
to deliver his expected address, and having fulfilled 
all his engagements, he hastened to the railway- station 
and travelled all night, to be with his sorrowing 
partner as soon as possible, and prepare for the 
mournful duty of conveying their first-born to the 
silent tomb. 

Mr and Mrs Maughan experienced much kindness 
in the Leeds Circuit, made many valuable friends, and 
left that sphere of labour with many pleasing 
memories. 

The next appointment of Mr Maughan was the 



32 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



Dudley Circuit, where he remained three years. We 
have but few details respecting his labours in this 
large Circuit, but we know that the ordinary work of 
the Circuit was hard, embracing three services on the 
Lord's day and occupying almost every week -night, 
either in ordinary duties or special meetings. Yet Mr 
Maughan found time for extra labours in the cause of 
temperance and philanthropy. He organized a Band 
of Hope Society for the Sunday scholars, and held 
fortnightly meetings, when he delivered addresses ; 
and when the cause of temperance was opposed he 
defended it both on the platform and through the 
press. In addition to these duties he delivered lectures 
to the young men of Dudley on scientific subjects. 
But in all these extra efforts he aimed at higher objects 
than the mere intellectual and moral improvement 
of men ; he sought thereby to convey spiritual truths, 
to win young men to Christ and his Church. 

While labouring in Dudley a telegram came from 
Mr Maughan' s mother announcing the serious illness 
of her husband, whom he always honoured with filial 
affection as his father. He hastened to the spot in 
time to console him in his dying moments, and after 
interring the body in his own child's grave at Leeds, he 
took his dear mother to his own home, and he and his 
excellent wife were her solace and support in her 
second widowhood, until Providence called them to a 
distant sphere. 

During the last 12 months of his labours in 
the Dudley Circuit an effort was set on foot to 
erect a large Sunday-school in connexion with 
Wesley Chapel. He united heartily with his minis- 



HIS LABOUES IN DUDLEY. 



33 



terial brethren and the committee in this important 
object, being determined to do his part to make 
the effort a success. A bazaar was held, when 
live animals as well as manufactured goods were sold, 
large subscriptions were also obtained, and the effort 
was a great success. The school was not erected 
during Mr Maughan's stay in Dudley, but subse- 
quently, when the Kev. W. Baggaly was superintendent 
of the Circuit. It is a fine building, and on a scale of 
magnitude in full proportion to the requirements of 
the Church and the population of the neighbourhood. 

Our Dudley friends, not weary in their work of 
benevolence, began a year afterwards another effort 
for the enlargement of Wesley Chapel, at an expense 
of £2000. This, also, they have accomplished with- 
out leaving one penny of augmentation to the debt ; 
and the old debt itself they intend shortly to lessen 
or extinguish by another special effort. Many other 
chapels in that large Circuit have been erected, facts 
which evince a connexional spirit, and higher still — 
love to Christ and the souls of men. 

Mr Maughan left Dudley with the satisfaction of 
seeing improvements not only in the material interests 
of the Circuit, but an increase of 35 members, results 
due of course to the labours of his colleagues and 
others as well as those performed by himself. 



3 



34 



CHAPTER V. 

MR MAUGHAN's LABOURS IN BRISTOL, 1859—1862. 

Mr Maughan's next sphere of labour (in 1859) 
was the important and flourishing town of Bristol ; 
and in this appointment there was an incident which 
indicates the interposition of Providence. Towards 
the close of his third year in Dudley Mrs Maughan's 
health had seriously declined, and her medical at- 
tendant advised her removal to a warmer climate, as 
necessary to her restoration, and recommended an 
appointment to Bristol on the arrival of the ensuing 
Conference. c No/ said Mr Maughan, ' I cannot ask 
for that ; for I remember the Missionary Committee, 
or at least some of its members, once requested me 
to go to Bristol, and I refused ; and I could not request 
an appointment there now merely on account of my 
wife's health.'' This conversation transpired on the 
Thursday evening, and, strange to say, on the following 
morning there came a letter from the Missionary 
Committee soliciting him to serve Bristol at the next 
Conference. He heard the voice of God in the call, 
and at once consented to obey. 



HIS LABOUES IN BRISTOL. 



35 



Mr Maughan had been preceded in Bristol by a 
minister of great energy, and mnch beloved by the 
people, and it required no small degree of diligence to 
maintain the prosperity which had been realized. 
The chapel was a large and handsome building, but 
situated in a retired place, and when half filled the 
congregation was reckoned good. The members were 
120, with four on probation. 

While Mr Maughan heartily rejoiced in the popu- 
larity and usefulness of his worthy predecessor, he 
determined to do his utmost both to enlarge the 
congregation and increase the membership of the 
Church. Here was a spacious chapel and a people 
mostly poor but willing to work. He at once resolved 
to begin and continue a series of special means to 
make an impression on the population, and attract the 
negligent and the careless to the house of God. 

He wrote and printed the following arousing 
circular, and scattered it widely among the people. 

< HOW LONG HALT YE ? 
* My Dear Friend, 

f If there be a God who at this moment offers 
you His mercy, whose angel reporter marks down 
every movement of your life; and who will one 
day either lift you up to heaven or thrust you 
down to hell, why should you halt between two 
opinions ? 

e If there be a throne op judgment, where 
the quick and dead will be congregated ; where 



36 



MEMOIR OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



the books will be opened ; where all hearts will be 
revealed; where all destinies will be determined; 
where the good will be separated from the bad ; the 
chaff from the wheat ; where God will meet you either 
with a welcome smile, or a repulsive frown ; and where 
waiting angels will either convey your spirit to ever- 
lasting blessedness, or devils drag you down to ever- 
lasting misery, why should you halt between two 
opinions ? 

' If there be a heaven of love, where ail the great 
and good are congregated; where Christ lives, and 
happy angels dwell ; where sorrow and pain have 
been excluded ; where every wish is anticipated, and 
every hope realized ; where there are songs that are 
ever sung, and robes that are ever pure, and palms 
that are ever green, and crowns that are ever bright, 
and trees that ever bloom, and fountains that ever 
flow, and joys that are never exhausted, and rivers, 
that are never dry ; where many of your loved ones 
have already gone ; and where you too may ultimately 
get safely landed, why should you continue to halt 
between two opinions ? 

'If there be a place of future misery, where 
the light of heaven will be excluded ; where the 
fire of hell will ever burn; where the smoke of 
torment will ever rise ; where the worm of anguish 
will ever gnaw; where the chain of bondage will 
ever rankle ; where the storm of wrath will ever 
rage; where the lightning of indignation will ever 
flash; where the thunder of retribution will ever 
roar ; where the serpent of deceit will ever hiss ; 
and where you may have to curse, and howl, and 



HIS LABOURS IN BETSTOL. 



37 



weep, and gnash your teeth, through the limit- 
lessness of eternity, oh why should you still halt 
between two opinions ? 

• f If there be no real permanent peace to the 
wicked ; if a guilty conscience be the greatest burden 
under heaven, why halt ye any longer ? 

'A God of boundless mercy calls upon you 
to decide. Fleeting time calls upon you to decide. 
Unending eternity calls upon you to decide. The 
interests of your own undying spirit call upon you to 
decide. The voices of your glorified ones in heaven 
call upon you to decide. The muffled groans of 
the lost from the burning pit call upon you to decide. 
Decide now, and peace, and joy, and heaven are 
yours. Refuse now, and devils will laugh at your 
madness, and hell will exult in your ruin. 

' If you do not attend any place of Worship, come 
to Castle Green Methodist New Connexion Chapel 
next Sunday evening, where you will hear some- 
thing that will do your soul good. 

' I am yours affectionately, 

( J. Maughan/ 

In this address we perceive the earnestness of his 
spirit and his intense anxiety to save the souls of the 
people. He did not desire merely to increase his 
congregation, but to save immortal souls. Not con- 
tent, however, with this measure, he adopted the plan 
of arranging and announcing by placard a series of 
Sunday evening sermons and lectures, selecting such 
topics as would strike the attention of the careless, 
and render passing occurrences and events the means 



38 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

of conveying spiritual truths to the understanding, and 
of working conviction into the hearts of the people. 
Storms, shipwrecks, fires, the appearance of a comet, 
the death of a great personage, &c., formed the theme 
of numerous discourses. Indeed, no public event 
transpired while he was in Bristol which he did not 
improve, and make the occasion of some appeal to the 
hearts of the people. 

A number of the placards and bills announcing the 
diversified topics of his Sunday evening lectures are 
now before me, and they remind me of the quaint 
titles which some of the old Puritans used to affix to 
their books. There is a good deal that is as grotesque 
as Bunyan's witty symbols and antitheses, and some 
persons with a refined sense of propriety might per- 
haps take exception to several topics as too grotesque 
for the pulpit and the Sabbath. But, in forming a 
correct judgment, we must remember that his aim was 
to arrest the thoughtless masses, and his custom was 
to make every theme a medium of conveying and im- 
pressing spiritual truth. Assuredly this was infinitely 
better than sitting down at his ease, passing through his 
time comfortably, and allowing the cause of God to 
take its chance. Mr Maughan could not do this. He 
must do all that was possible to arouse the people, and 
save their souls, and if the ordinary means were not 
successful he must employ the extraordinary, and at 
any cost of time and labour do all the good in his 
power. 

We give a specimen of the manner in which he 
was wont to discourse on special topics. The year 
1860 was a time of deep and general distress arising 



HIS LABOURS IN BRISTOL. 



39 



from a severe and protracted winter, followed by a 
scanty harvest, and the high price of food. Mr 
Maughan improved this calamity by a sermon on 
' Cheap food, and how to get it/ taking for his text 
' There is corn in Egypt/ Genesis xlii. 2. I select my 
quotation from a report of the sermon in the ( Bristol 
Daily Post.' Mr Maughan said, ' " Cheap Food, and 
how to get it," was a subject of such immense import- 
ance to the great majority of the people of the present 
day, that he was quite sure he had no need to offer 
any apology for introducing it to their attention. To 
his mind it was far more important for the minister 
of Christ to preach upon subjects of popular and im- 
mediate interest, to bring the doctrines of the grace 
of God to bear upon them, and to turn them to a 
moral 'and spiritual account, than it was for him to be 
continually losing sight of the present, and to be con- 
tent with bringing the interest of the past to bear 
upon the destiny of the future. When the Great 
Model Teacher went among the villages of Palestine 
He continually made the passing incidents of the hour 
the basis of His sermons. When, then, he attempted 
to follow in the footsteps of their Great Exemplar, by 
seizing on the topics of popular interest, in order to 
turn them to present aud spiritual account, he thought 
he could not be very far departing from the path of 
duty. There were very few persons who did not 
know, and that by painful experience, that this life 
was a continual struggle, and that, hard as life's 
struggle was, it had become, especially with the poor, 
a great deal harder during the past few months than 
it had been for some time before. It was well known 



40 MEMOIR OP THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAM. 



that last winter was one of the longest and severest 
there had been for a considerable number of years 
before. Now, that, for many reasons, was a circum- 
stance bad enough in itself, but, unfortunately, they 
almost invariably found that misfortunes never came 
singly. After the last long, cold winter, they had a 
very wet and late spring. As the result of that late 
spring they had a scanty vegetation ; as the result 
of scanty vegetation they had a scarcity of food ; 
as the result of scarcity of food they had a rise in 
the price of provisions ; as the result of a rise in the 
price of provisions they had distress and suffering 
among the poor ; and as the result of that distress and 
suffering they had a very large amount of mur- 
muring and complaining in the streets. The question, 
then, as to the cause of the high price of provisions 
had become one of the great social problems of the 
present day/ 

After disposing of some complaints unjustly made 
against farmers and others, he went on to show 
that if people would abstain from consuming and 
farmers from growing what was deleterious to the 
health and morals of the community, the land would 
produce plenty of wholesome and cheap provisions for 
all. This, though intended for the temporal good of 
the people, was but the introduction of higher truths for 
their spiritual and eternal good. For, as the reporter 
of the sermon says, 1 Having spoken of the material, 
he would next direct their attention to the historical 
and spiritual portion of the subject. The rev. gentle- 
man proceeded to enlarge on the famine in Egypt, 
showing how that famine has its counterpart in man's 



HIS LABOURS IN BRISTOL. 



41 



spiritual condition. He then proceeded to enlarge on 
God's merciful provision for the wants of Israel, show- 
ing how that provision finds its counterpart in the 
gospel of Christ. He showed on what easy terms 
the blessings of the gospel might be obtained, and 
earnestly urged an immediate application to the 
storehouse of the gospel. He was attentively listened 
to throughout.'' 1 

In the spring of 1861 there was a terrible fire, 
attended with loss of life, occasioned by an explosion 
of naphtha in Castle-green, near to the chapel. Mr 
Maughan improved this calamity by a suitable dis- 
course, which he announced under the title of ' Lessons 
from the late fatal and calamitous fire/ and appealing 
to public sympathy he made a collection on behalf of the 
bereaved family. 

' There was a large and attentive congregation. 
The rev. gentleman took his text from the 1st 
chapter of the Book of Job, and the 19th verse — 
" Behold, there came a great wind from the wilder- 
ness, and smote the four corners of the house, 
and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead." 

' The preacher, after adverting to the adversities 
of Job and his dependence upon God, whom he knew 
was wiser than himself, and knew better than he did 
what was promotive of his welfare, he proceeded to 
refer to the painful catastrophe which had happened 
at their very doors. He did not believe that all such 
things were pre-ordained, but he believed that they 
were benevolently overruled by God for the common 
good of all His creatures. God intended that they 
1 The Bristol Daily Post. 



42 



MEMOIR OP THE REV". JAMES MAUGHAN. 



should learn wisdom even from the accident and 
calamity of fire. After detailing the incidents of the 
catastrophe, he said that the exploding naphtha was 
the voice of God speaking to every inhabitant, old and 
young, in Bristol, and to every unconverted and god- 
less man and woman in the world, the language used 
being, " There is but a step between thee and death, 
therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as 
ye think not the Son of man cometh/' In that mass 
of charcoal, the remains of the poor man which had 
been recovered from the ruins, was also the voice of 
God exclaiming, " Blessed, thrice blessed, are they 
who die in the Lord, for they rest from their 
labours, and their works do follow them." The 
blackened ruins spoke out to every one of them that 
night, " Set not your affections on this earth, but set 
them on thing's above, where Christ sitteth on the 
right hand of God." There were, he said, two or 
three special lessons which they ought to learn frpm 
that fatal and calamitous event. In the first place they 
should learn never to despise trifling incidents, because 
it often happened that the most fearful results depended 
on little things, and it was never more strongly or 
painfully exemplified than in the late destructive fire, 
of which he was speaking, which had resulted in the 
destruction of one human life, and nearly £20,000 
worth of property, through the trifling incident of 
there being a small leak in the cistern. Another 
lesson they should learn from that disaster was, to be 
ever ready for eternity, seeing that there was not a 
moment of their lives in which they were not exposed 
to danger. He thanked God that there was reason to 



HIS LABOUES IN BEISTOL. 



43 



believe that their departed brother — lie called him 
brother, for although he was an entire stranger to 
hint, they had one common Father — and the good 
man had habitually lived so as to be ready whenever it 
should please God to call him into eternity. 

f In conclusion, the rev. gentleman made an eloquent 
and pathetic appeal on behalf of the widow and family 
of the deceased man Board, who had been left in an 
utterly helpless and dependent position. A collection 
was afterwards made in their behalf, which amounted 
to £6.' 1 

June in the same year was rendered memorable 
also by the appearance of the great comet. It was 
first seen by Mr Tebbutt at Sydney, in Australia, on 
the 13th of May; by Mr Goldschmidt and others in 
France and England, on the 29th and 30th of June. 
The nucleus was about 400 miles in diameter, with a 
long brush-like tail, travelling at the rate of ten 
million of miles in 24 hours. On the 20th of June it 
was suggested that we were in the tail of the comet, 
there being a phosphorescent auroral glare. Mr 
Maughan improved the occasion of this visitor to our 
earth's orbit by delivering a discourse on 'The Comet 
a Religious Teacher.-' 

( There was a large attendance. He selected for his 
text Psalm viii. 3, 4, " When I consider thy heavens, the 
work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which 
Thou hast ordained; what is man, that Thou art mindful 
of him ? and the Son of man, that Thou visitest him ? " 
After some preliminary observations, the lecturer said 
he proposed, in the first place, to contemplate the 
1 The Bristol Daily Post. 



44 MEMOIR OF THE KEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

heavens, and, in the second place, to consider the 
great religious lessons the heavens were calculated 
to teach them. It was just 17 days since the cry 
was heard throughout our land of "a comet ! a 
comet ! " and immediately thousands of eyes were 
turned in the direction of the illustrious stranger. 
The question at once arose, " What are comets V and 
teachers, preachers, and newspaper editors began to 
talk about comets, and the consequence was that 
thousands of people who never before had been led to 
study the character of the heavens had their attention 
drawn thereto, and from the contemplations of the 
heavens they were led to study the character of God. 
The comet was a great religious teacher, and it would 
prove no ineffective teacher if it led them, as it led 
David, to the contemplation of the heavens. He then 
went on to describe the amazing distances, revolutions, 
velocities, &c, of the planetary worlds, and then came 
the question of "What is a comet?" Describing the 
comets of 1811, 1858, and the present one, and after 
giving the generally received opinions as to the con- 
stituent elements of comets, and dilating upon the 
immensity of space, and the wisdom and power of the 
Almighty, he said well might the Lord be called the 
Lord God Omnipotent. Let them now consider the 
lesson that these planets, stars, and comets taught them. 
Truly, when they looked at the comet and the other 
heavenly bodies they were reminded of man's utter 
insignificance, and the overwhelming power and 
wisdom of God. What was man? A. guilty, ungrate- 
ful wretch — ungrateful to God to the last degree for 
mercies heaped upon his head. God, who was a Being 



HIS LABOUES IN BEISTOL. 



45 



of infinite wisdom, boundless benevolence, and 
almighty power, had revealed Himself in His Book, 
which was a necessary supplement to the great 
volume of Nature, as a God of mercy, and had sent 
His Son into the world to save rebellious man. He 
concluded a very forcible and interesting lecture, by 
calling upon all, young and old, rich and poor, to 
repent now and turn to the Lord, so should they be 
adopted into His family and made His children for 
evermore / 1 

The people of this generation have a vivid recollec- 
tion of the excitement, which might almost be called 
a panic, produced about ten or a dozen years ago, by the 
armaments and threatening attitude of France. It 
was seriously apprehended that a descent on England 
was contemplated. Such patriotic men as Cobden 
and Bright employed their powerful eloquence to 
allay the fears of the nation, and induce the govern- 
ment to maintain a peaceful attitude, and cease to 
augment the national expenditure by unnecessary 
preparations for war. But the national apprehension 
excited by the war party operated so far as to cause 
great and expensive preparations, and originated 
numerous regiments of volunteers. Mr Maughan 
was an advocate of peace as well as a promoter of 
temperance and a preacher of the gospel, and he 
saw, moreover, various social evils growing out of the 
system of volunteers. A great sham fight had 
taken place about that time, and he felt it his duty 
as a minister of Christ's peace-proclaiming gospel 
to raise his voice against such proceedings. He 
1 The Bristol Daily Post. 



46 



MEMOIR OP THE KEY. JAMES MAUGHAX. 



therefore announced his intention to deliver, on 
the 30th June, a sermon unfolding ten objections to 
sham fights and volunteer reviews. 

'The congregation was large, and his discourse 
impressive. His text was John xviii. 36, "My 
kingdom is not of this world ; if my kingdom were of 
this world, then would my servants fight/' Having 
enlarged somewhat upon the. text, and shown it 
to be the duty of the Christian minister to bring the 
doctrines and precepts of Christianity to bear upon 
the duties of every-day life, the preacher went on to 
remark that he had not a word to say against that 
noble-hearted and patriotic band of men who came 
forward at the cry of danger to form themselves into 
one of the bulwarks of our land. But he had something 
to say against the folly and wickedness of fighting, and 
also against sham fights and volunteer reviews. He 
then stated his ten objections to them as follows : — 
First, they were unnecessary; secondly, they were 
entirely contrary to the spirit and precepts of the 
gospel ; thirdly, they were not in harmony with the 
practices of the early Christians; fourthly, they 
caused a great waste of precious time; fifthly, they 
caused a great waste of public and private money; 
sixthly, they occasioned an unnecessary risk of human 
life ; seventhly, they engendered a spirit of haughti- 
ness and national defiance ; eighthly, they were 
productive of political and international animosities ; 
ninthly, they contributed to the injury of the public 
morals ; and lastly, they had a tendency to lead men's 
minds away from the great object for which they were 
sent into the world. On the last point he said he did 



HIS LABOURS IN BRISTOL. 



47 



not object to men fighting, if they fought with right 
weapons. It appeared to him to be folly for persons 
to be preparing against enemies which were never 
coming, and to anticipate evils which were never 
likely to arise. If they wanted to fight, let them fight 
against the evils of infidelity, ignorance, intemperance, 
sensuality, and other soul-destroying agencies which 
were slaying their thousands yearly ; if they wished to 
be soldiers, let them become soldiers of Christ and 
ally themselves with the great and good men who 
were attempting to sweep the land of the great evils 
under which it groaned. Let them remember that 
God had sent them into the world to do all the good 
they could; let them therefore be valiant for God, 
and when they left the world they would have the 
approbation of their Divine Master/ 1 

This lecture brought upon him the odium of some, 
who in the public papers denounced him as a Pharisee, 
as egotistical, and as uttering Pontifical anathemas. 
Mr Maughan wisely abstained personally from the 
newspaper controversy ; but others, both in and out of 
his own Denomination, came forward to his defence, 
and in defence too of the peaceful principles he advo- 
cated, which are doubtless the principles of genuine 
Christianity. 

In addition to the Sunday evening lectures, Mr 
Maughan delivered another series on the week nights, 
continuing them successively for four nights on the 
same week, as the following programme indicates. 
Sunday evening, Jan. 13, ' A struggle for life ; ' Mon- 
day, Jan. 14, ' The effects of the frost; ' Tuesday, Jan. 
1 The Bristol Dally Post. 



48 



MEMOIR OP THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



15, c Problems in arithmetic;' Wednesday, Jan. 16, 
''The rival candidates;' Thursday, Jan. 17, 'The 
tears and joys of angels Friday, Jan. 18, ' A fellow- 
ship meeting/ 

In addition to these efforts he delivered 120 week- 
night lectures on the first chapter of Genesis, taking 
occasion to illustrate the Mosaic narrative by geology, 
astronomy, and the numerous vegetable and animal 
remains found in the strata of the earth. These 
several engagements would average one lecture nearly 
every week during the whole time he laboured in Bris- 
tol ; and that his week-night should not interfere with 
the ordinary services, which commenced at seven, he be- 
gan his lectures at eight o'clock p. m., so that he would 
often have two services on the same night. These 120 
lectures were mainly of a scientific character, embrac- 
ing questions on geology, astronomy, optics, physi- 
ology, and chemistry; they were delivered in a popu- 
lar and familiar style, and were rendered attractive and 
instructive by numerous diagrams and experiments. 

In connexion with these labours he formed a 
society for the special instruction of young men, in 
which he had two classes, one for theology and the 
other for science, the two consisting of about 100 
members. 

In the midst of these numerous duties he kept up 
the spiritual means of grace. Class-meetings, prayer- 
meetings, and fellowship-meetings were held for cherish- 
ing the spiritual life of the Church, and he personally 
watched over the religious welfare of his members with 
the diligence and fidelity of a shepherd, and the affec- 
tion and sympathy of a father. 



HIS LABOUES IN BEISTOL. 



49 



It is a matter of wonder as to how Mr Maughan 
could find time for such diversified and numerous 
engagements. But Lis constitution was hardy and 
vigorous, his health excellent and uninterrupted, and 
his application intense. Moreover, he had a remark- 
able power of endurance, and could do with less sleep 
than most men. I know that when he laboured in 
London he seldom retired to rest until beyond mid- 
night, often, indeed, sitting up until the small hours 
of the morning had passed ; and yet he was usually in 
his study as early as most men. I used to wonder 
when the good man got his sleep, or whether he had 
the power of largely dispensing with that repose which 
other men require. In the power of wakefulness he 
most resembled the indefatigable Baxter of any man I 
ever knew ; and in some of his excesses he surpassed 
him. I find among his papers a memorandum penned 
by his devoted wife, stating that when preparing for 
two special anniversary sermons in Bristol, he sat in 
his study the whole week. ' From Thursday morning 
he continued at his desk until Sunday morning, when 
he washed, dressed, and went to preach. He just 
slept, perhaps, an hour and a half in his study during 
the three nights. I sat up most of the nights to get 
tea for him to keep him awake. ; This is not to be 
commended ; it must be denounced as presumption, a 
trespass upon Providence ; and the wonder is that the 
effort did not bring on paralysis, or softening of the 
brain, or some other fatal malady. Let this part 
of Mr Maughan' s conduct not be followed, but shunned, 
as highly injudicious and dangerous. 

We scarcely need say that the labours of Mr 
4 



50 



MEMOIR OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



Mauglian yielded some gratifying results. The con- 
gregation was nmch increased, the chapel being some- 
times crowded ; the number of members was increased 
to 166, with 12 probationers, and the financial con- 
dition of the Church was so far improved that the 
next Conference was requested to raise Bristol from 
the list of Mission Stations to the position and privi- 
leges of a regular Circuit. This step, we think, was 
premature, as the cause still needed more consolidation 
and strength. 

During the latter part of the third year of Mr 
Maughan's labours in Bristol the Missionary Com- 
mittee, acting under the authority of the Conference, 
resolved upon sending a missionary to Australia. The 
subject had long been under consideration, and calls 
for help had often been sent from that distant country. 
Mr Maughan was requested to become the pioneer 
missionary, and without conferring with flesh and 
blood he at once consented. 

May 24th was fixed for Mr Maughan' s departure, 
and on May 11th public services of solemn dedication 
to the great enterprise were held in our own chapel 
at Bristol, the Hev. H. 0. Crofts, D.D., preached on 
Sunday morning, and William Cooke, D.D., in the 
evening of the same day. 

On the following day, Monday, 12th, the dedicatory 
services were resumed. In the afternoon 500 persons 
sat down to tea, and in the evening a public meeting 
was held in the chapel. Mr James Phillips presided, 
and besides the two ministers already named, the Rev. 
J. Hudston and ministers of the town took part in 
the proceedings. It was a solemn and impressive 



HIS LABOURS IN BRISTOL. 



51 



occasion. Before the close of the meeting Mr Brason, 
on behalf of the young men's scientific class, and Mr 
Ellis, on behalf of the theological class, presented to 
Mr Maughan a number of very valuable philosophical 
instruments and apparatus in token of their high esteem, 
and of their grateful appreciation of the services he 
had rendered them in their various studies during the 
three years of his ministry. 

Our brother spent the next Sabbath in Bristol, 
where he preached twice, in the evening delivering a 
valedictory discourse to his sorrowing people. In six 
days more he was on board the good ship ' Blanche 
Moore/ leaving Liverpool for the distant sphere of his 
labours. 1 Writing to the Bev. Dr Stacey, then the 
general secretary of our Mission, just as the vessel 
was leaving the river Mersey, he says, ' We are now 
fairly under weigh. I have just taken a last look of 
the shores of the Mersey, and expect to see very little 
more of land for the next three months. Last Monday, 
as you know, we held our Dedicatory Services and our 
farewell Tea Meeting. I trust those services will 
prove as permanently beneficial as they were immedi- 
ately interesting. Sunday last I preached my farewell 
sermons to as kind a people as it was ever my lot to 
labour amongst. On Tuesday I had the painful task 
of repeating to them all at the Railway Station that 
terrible word Adieu. On Thursday we got all our 

1 His early friend Mr H. Atherton and other friends accompanied 
him to the ship to bid him farewell, and express their fervent wishes 
for his safety, usefulness, and happiness in the distant land for which 
he was destined. 



52 MEMOIR OP THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

heavy luggage on board, and this morning at three 
o'clock we started for a sail of 15,000 miles. I am 
very much obliged to you for all your kind and en- 
couraging letters, and sincerely trust that your con- 
fidence and that of the Conference will prove not to 
have been misplaced. . . . We are all in capital heart. 
We have faith in God and in the Connexion. We held 
a little Prayer Meeting last night in the back part of 
the saloon ; Mr Jackman and Mr Walker, two of our 
members from Bristol who accompany us, beside the 
steward and stewardess, with Mrs Maughan and our 
servant, being present. The steerage passengers were 
fiddling and dancing at the same time. They had the 
larger gathering, but I have no hesitation in saying 
that we had the happier meeting/ A brief note 
written off Cape Clear to the author, concludes with 
' Good-bye, God bless you. I hope you will have a 
happy Conference. I shall be present with you in 
spirit, at least at the Missionary Meeting.'' 



53 



CHAPTER VI. 

VOYAGE TO AUSTRALIA, AND COMMENCEMENT OP HIS 
MISSION,, 1862-3. 

Mr Maughan is now on the mighty deep, and we 
hear no more of him for several months. Mrs Maughan 
was extremely ill at sea, scarcely able to raise her head, 
and continued in this state nearly all the voyage. One 
day when beating about Cork in a heavy sea, Mr 
Maughan playfully asked her whether he should put 
her on shore in a fishing-boat. ( No/ replied the noble 
woman, ' I am suffering in God's cause, and will die 
and go to heaven rather than go back.-' That is the 
true missionary spirit, giving up all for Christ ! 

Mr Maughan was almost as busy on sea as he had 
been on land. There were 493 souls on board, and our 
brother could not move amongst them without en- 
deavouring to do them good. We have seen that he 
commenced a prayer-meeting in the ship before starting, 
and on the next day, the Sabbath, he held public wor- 
ship, himself the preacher. There was a large attend- 
ance ; and this service he repeated every Sabbath, when 



54 MEMOIR OP THE EEV. JAMES MAEGHAN. 



weather permitted, during the whole voyage. He 
formed also a Bible class, held each Sabbath after- 
noon; or, if the weather was unfavourable on the 
Sabbath, he took a week-night for that useful 
meeting. He also delivered a lecture to the pas- 
sengers on the poop of the ship on Wednesday, the 
14th of June. His theme was ' Social habits, and the 
law of consequences/ a most appropriate subject for 
emigrants, as 'the object of the lecture was to show 
that every man is to a great extent what he makes 
himself ; and that a man's social habits are the key to 
his elevation or degradation. Let a man be sober, 
intelligent, and - industrious, and nothing can hinder 
him from rising ; but if he be ignorant, thriftless, and 
intemperate, nothing can prevent his fall. 5 The lecture 
was illustrated with approjDriate and telling anecdotes, 
and listened to with great attention. Shortly after- 
wards a deputation waited upon Mr Maughan to 
request another lecture on some topic of interest at his 
earliest convenience. He cheerfully complied by 
lecturing on ' The way to succeed.'' How many 
more such he delivered during the voyage we cannot 
state. Certainly they were the right topics to do 
good to people just entering a new country and en- 
gaging in a new and untried course of life. As another 
means of interesting the passengers Mr Maughan 
started and conducted a manuscript newspaper, to 
report everything of interest that might occur each 
day on board, to note the progress of the ship, to de- 
scribe any place of importance they might pass, and to 
afford a medium of friendly intercourse during the 
voyage. This was a source of innocent entertainment, 



VOYAGE TO AUSTBALIA. 



55 



and while interesting and instructing the passengers 
it increased his influence for good. 

How far Divine and saving impressions were made 
upon the minds of the passengers generally we can- 
not tell but there was one instance of salvation. A 
man being afflicted with typhoid fever, and not able to 
attend preaching, heard the gospel through the board- 
ing which divided the hospital from the saloon, and 
the word was applied by the Holy Spirit to his heart. 
He sent for Mr Maughan, who visited him, directed him 
to Christ, and united with him in prayer for salvation. 
The man found peace with God, and died in the faith. 
Thus God affixed His own seal upon our brother's 
mission before he arrived at the field of labour. 

The varied services of Mr Maughan as chaplain, 
lecturer, teacher, and friend to the passengers could 
not but be gratefully appreciated by them ; and to give 
expression to their feeling, a number of them on land- 
ing met together at Tankard's Temperance Hotel for 
the purpose of presenting to him a testimonial. A 
deputation was appointed to wait upon him with a 
suitable address and a binocular telescope. Mr H. Ball, 
on behalf of the passengers, said, ' Sir, I have the hon- 
our and privilege of being deputed by the passengers 
of the " Blanche Moore " to present you with this small 
testimony of our appreciation of your ministerial serv- 
ices during so long a voyage.'' The address presented 
reads thus : 

' Rev. Sir, As, through the great mercy of God, we 
have now approached the termination of our voyage ^ 
we, the passengers, should not think it right to separ- 
ate without expressing to you our deep obligation for 



56 



MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



the kind and generous manner in which yon have acted 
as our chaplain since we left the shores of England. 

£ We feel very thankful that you were on board, or 
in all probability we should otherwise have been des- 
titute of the services of public worship for the space of 
three months. 

e We beg your acceptance of this achromatic binocu- 
lar telescope , as a small tribute of our gratitude and 
esteem. We sincerely trust that your valuable life 
and that of your amiable partner may be long spared, 
and that great success may attend your mission to this 
colony. With fervent prayers that Almighty God 
may bless you and make you a blessing, we beg to 
subscribe ourselves yours, &c. &c, 

' The Passengers oe the "Blanche Moore." ' 

Mr Maughan, in his brief reply to this address, said, 
among other remarks, 'He thanked them for their 
kind appreciation of his services, and their handsome 
gift. He was glad that he had been in any way use- 
ful to them during the voyage. When he volunteered 
his services as a minister of religion it was from a 
pure desire to do good, and without the slightest idea 
of testimonial or reward of any kind.' 

In this we believe Mr Maughan spoke the simple 
truth of his heart : no man cared less for human re- 
ward than he did. He did good because the active 
benevolence of his heart prompted him to do good ; it 
was his element ; he delighted in it, and the gratifica- 
tion of this feeling was itself his reward. 

Mr Maughan landed at Melbourne on Monday, 
September 1, and having the address of Mr Dufrocq, 



ARRIVAL AT MELBOURNE. 



57 



lie went in search of him. Walking in Swanston- 
street, he felt a hand upon his shoulder, and on turning 
round a gentleman said to him, ( You're a new chum/ 
f How do you know that, sir ? ' ' Yery well ; and you 
are Mr Maughan, and I am Mr Dufrocq, whom you are 
seeking/ Dr Collenette of Guernsey had written to 
say that he was coming, and when the ' Blanche 
Moore s arrived Mr Dufrocq was expecting him. 
From Mr and Mrs D. they received much kindness, 
he giving just the counsel they needed as to the 
things for housekeeping which in England they did 
not require. 

Mr Maughan found himself in a splendid city, but 
subject to terrific expenses. He could not get suit- 
able lodgings under about £7 7s. a week besides £2 
2s. for warehousing his luggage. He therefore rented 
a very small house, containing five small rooms, as a 
weekly tenant, worth about £14 a year in England, 
but for which he had to pay at the rate of £65, while 
a few articles of furniture cost about one half more 
than English prices. However, he extemporized his 
boxes for tables, and made shift with as little bought 
furniture as possible for the present. 

In Melbourne he met with some old friends, and 
soon sought out others, who hailed his arrival; but 
before permanently fixing his tent he thought it de- 
sirable to visit several outlying townships, and obtain 
the fullest information for his guidance. He went, 
therefore, to Ballarat, which he found to be a large 
and flourishing settlement, with populous localities 
around it, utterly destitute of religious means. He 
went also to Gordon, about 15 miles from Ballarat, 



58 



MEMOIR OP THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN". 



where there were 500 people, who had built a 
chapel 12 months ago, but could not get a minister 
of any kind, and several other places were similarly 
situated. 

Adelaide, however, was the town to which many 
years before this time we had received a loud and 
earnest call from a number of our own people who had 
settled there. They had, indeed, formed themselves into 
a Church, in hope of a missionary being sent. In 1843 
the Rev. Ralph Waller was actually appointed for 
Adelaide ; but a severe and protracted illness laid him 
aside, and no other suitable minister being found at 
the time, the mission had been suspended until now, 
much to the disappointment and grief of our faithful 
friends there. Mr Maughan, therefore, having recon- 
noitred the places around Melbourne, hastened to 
Adelaide, which was 500 miles distant. He put an 
advertisemeDt in the newspaper that James Maughan, 
a New Connexion minister, was at the Temperance 
Hotel, and would be glad to communicate with New C. 
friends. The first call was from Dr Whittel, whom he 
had known in Birmingham. While the Doctor was 
reading the paper in the morning he said to Mrs Whittel, 
' I wonder if that is our Mr Maughan ? I'll go and see.' 
Off he went, and when the cab stopped, and Mr 
Maughan appeared at the door, the Doctor jumped 
with surprise and pleasure. Mr Maughan went off 
immediately with Dr Whittel to his home, and ever 
since he found in the Doctor and his lady true and 
warm-hearted friends, and the Doctor rendered them 
medical service. ' I have heard him say/ says Mrs 
Maughan, ' " I never took apenny from a minister yet." ' 



LABOUES I1ST ADELAIDE. 



59 



He, though a Congregationalist, attends professionally 
on the ministers of all Denominations, rendering his 
services free. 

After this Mr Maughan found Mr Samuel Marshall, 
and went to stay with him. While talking to Mr 
Marshall he said, 'Didn't you come out in the 
" Orient "V ' Yes, and you in the u Blanche Moore." ' 
In crossing, the two ships, the ' Orient 3 and ' Blanche 
Moore/ were both becalmed, and a boat from each 
vessel was put off to visit the other. Mr Maughan had 
talked the most of the time with Mr Marshall perfectly 
unconscious that he was one of our old friends. 

Mr Maughan found that near 20 years' delay 
had worked disastrously for our prospects of immediate 
success in Adelaide. Some friends had died, others 
had removed, some had become united with other 
Churches : even the remnant of the old Church was 
gone ; and not only so, in the mean time the town 
had become tolerably well supplied with ministers and 
religious ordinances. Some worthy friends formerly 
connected with us in England gave Mr M. a most 
cordial greeting, but only a few of them were in a con- 
dition to assist him in the inauguration of a mission 
Church. He had now to decide between the rival 
claims of Melbourne, the rapidly-growing metropolis 
of Victoria, and Adelaide, the capital of South Austra- 
lia. The latter was a beautiful town, but had a popu- 
lation of only 18,000. After taking the counsel of 
friends, and carefully considering the claims of outly- 
ing districts, Mr M. felt it a duty to open his Mission in 
Adelaide as a centre of further operations in the des- 
titute places around, and with a conviction on his 



60 



MEMOIR OP THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



part that tlie Connexion would very soon send another 
man of energy to Melbourne, to make it a second 
centre of operations, embracing necessitous districts 
around that city ; for he expected his efforts would be 
sustained by at least three or four other energetic 
missionaries. His purpose, no doubt, was influenced 
by the counsel of the Honourable Anthony Forster, 
who at one time had supplied our little expectant 
Church in Adelaide with his valuable ministrations. 
, That gentleman said, ' You have kept away from these 
colonies until the capitals have become, at least for 
the present, well supplied with ministers ; and yet it 
is essential for you to get into the capitals before you 
can do much good in the distant townships. What 
then are you to do ? If you send us ordinary men, 
we don't need them ; but there is a great lack of 
really able men in the colonies. Such men here can 
secure congregations, and meet with support, to what- 
ever Denomination they may belong. If then the 
Connexion desires to take an immediate and influen- 
tial position here, and to establish at once a self-sup- 
porting Mission, it must send us three or four of its 
very best rising men/ 

Supposing that to be the purpose of the Denomin- 
ation, Mr Maughan fixed his standard in Adelaide. 
A room was taken ' in one of the best thoroughfares 
of the city, though not in the most frequented part of 
it, capable of seating 250 persons. 3 The first services 
were held on the 21st of December, 1862, at both 
of which the congregations were good. January 5th 
a public tea-meeting was held, presided over by the 
Hon. A. Forster, M.L.C. This meeting was numer- 



LABOUES IN ADELAIDE. 



61 



ously attended, and was addressed by several ministers 
of the city, who came to give a Christian welcome to 
Mr Maughan and to the Community whose agent he 
was. Methodist ordinances and discipline were im- 
mediately instituted. ' Our little Church/ so writes 
our good brother, ' was formally inaugurated : twelve 
persons, all old members, gave their names ; three of 
these members were of my own family, two of the family 
of our old friend Mr Marshall, two others from Hali- 
fax, and three from West Broomwich. Mr Marshall 
(formerly of Ambler Thorne) was appointed treasurer 
steward, and the following resolutions were passed : — ■ 
1. That this meeting recognizes with thankfulness to 
Almighty God the safe arrival of the Rev. J. Maughan, 
with his family, among us, as a minister of the Me- 
thodist New Connexion. 2. That we who are now 
present resolve to form ourselves into a Methodist 
New Connexion Church, under the pastoral care of Mr 
Maughan, and solemnly pledge ourselves to assist 
him, to the utmost of our ability, to make this Church 
a blessing to this city and to this colony at large.' 

Mr Maughan distinctly stated at this meeting that 
though commencing his labours in Adelaide, it was by 
no means his intention to confine his efforts to that 
town, but to get out other ministers and establish 
missions in other colonies. His mission was to Aus- 
tralasia, and he hoped there would not be wanting in 
him the desire and the effort to render the Mission 
a praise and a power in these southern climes. 

In a subsequent letter Mr Maughan thus writes : — 
e We began with 12 members. Since that time we have 
been steadily increasing, so that now we number 28, 



62 HEMOIE OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGBAX. 

and we hope by Conference we shall nnmber at least 
40 members. We have had several very interest- 
ing cases of conversion during the last few weeks. At 
the class, which meets at my house, from the want of 
a better place, we had an aged man seeking mercy 
last Monday week. He then got so much blessed 
that last week he brought his wife, who was also seek- 
ing the Saviour. On the same night we had another 
woman seeking salvation, and she has now brought 
her husband. All four have had their names inserted 
in the class-book, and though comparatively poor 
people, they insist on paying sixpence a week as class- 
money. Several other instances of almost a similar 
character might be recorded. God has already set 
the broad seal of His approbation on our Mission, and 
we have the prospect of soon having a flomishing 
Church. 

( Having long felt the importance of garnering 
young men into our Churches, I resolved here to make 
special effort to enlist their sympathies and co-opera- 
tion in organizing our infant cause. I announced a 
series of special lectures for young men as soon as 
20 could be found to promise to attend. The num- 
ber was soon made up, and for want of a better 
place I was obliged to begin the lectures in my own 
house. We can only have the Assembly Eoom for one 
evening in the week, and on that evening we have 
preaching service. What we shall do to-morrow even- 
ing I can scarcely tell. We have, however, secured a 
fine band of young men, whose co-operation will be of 
great service to me in the Church. I am already 
arranging to select ten or a dozen of them to form a 



LABOURS IN ADELAIDE. 



03 



Church Yigilance Committee,'' This letter is followed 
by a slip from the Adelaide Register, containing a 
report of Mr Maughan's first lecture to this society of 
young men, and the following programme of subjects 
for succeeding lectures to be delivered by him. 

Feb. 19. — The Falsity op Atheism ; or, the Existence 
of God Proved to be in Harmony with 
True Philosophy. 
„ 26. — The Unreasonableness oe Deism; or, the 
Bible Proved to be of Divine Authority. 

Mar. 5. — The Non-Eternity op Matter ; or, Nature's 
Testimony to the Origin of the Universe. 
— (Geological Testimonials will be ex- 
hibited.) 

„ 12. — The Chemical Elements op Matter ; or, the 
Materials Employed in the Creation of the 
World : With interesting Experiments. 

„ 17. — Inaugural Soiree; with Selections from 
Nature exhibited through the Oxyhydro- 
gen Microscope. 

„ 26. — The Nature and Properties op Friction al 
Electricity : With various Illustrations. 
Apr. 2. — Further Illustrations op Frictional Elec- 
tricity. 

„ 9. — The Nature and Properties op Voltaic Elec- 
tricity : With various Illustrations. 

„ 16. — Further Illustrations op Voltaic Electri- 
city. 

„ 23. — Miscellaneous Topics. 
„ 30. — The Philosophy op the Induction Coil : 
With interesting Experiments. 



64 



MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAX. 



May 7. — Further Calorific axe Luminous Experi- 
ments with the Induction Coil. 
„ 14. — The Nature and Properties of Thermo and 
Magneto Electricity : With various Ex- 
periments. 

Mr Maugkan's lectures on philosophy and science, 
however, were not in any sense allowed to divert his 
mind from the spiritual objects of his Mission. They 
were but subservient thereto, as will appear from the 
following letter to the General Secretary of the Mis- 
sion dated March 27, 1863. 

e You will be glad to hear that our prospects still 
continue to brighten on this Mission. You may re- 
member that in a previous letter I reported that the 
Hindley- street Assembly Eoom here had been fitted 
up to seat 250 persons, at an expense of about £75. 
That room, I am happy to say, is becoming too small 
for us. It is now generally about two -thirds filled on 
the Sabbath morning, and packed as full as it will 
hold in the evening. The Wednesday evening con- 
gregation is also quite as large as the Sabbath morning. 
Our number of members is also weekly increasing. 
Last month I reported 28 members ; this month I 
have great pleasure in reporting* an increase of nine 
members, and three on trial ; so that our return 
for Conference will be 37 members and three on 
probation. As we only opened our Mission here on 
the 2nd of December, and have therefore existed as a 
Church but four months, I think you will agree with 
me that we have not spent our time and money in 
vain. One remarkably pleasing feature in our progress 



LABOUES IN ADELAIDE. 



65 



is, that two-thirds of our additions consist of the con- 
verts of my own ministry, and that two-thirds of the 
remainder had previously been members with us in 
England, so that our Church is eminently Connexional 
in its character. We have been only one week without 
additions to oar numbers since our cause commenced. 
We had our first quarterly meeting last night. Owing 
to the intense heat during the last three days, and the 
consequent prostration which it has induced, the 
attendance of members was not so large as it other- 
wise would have been ; but we had a short and happy 
meeting. The class contributions for 12 weeks were 
£10 Is. 6c?. Had our 37 members each met with 
us from the first night, we should not have raised 
less than £20 in the class for the quarter. The people 
here give to God's cause with the most astonishing 
liberality. Some of the very poorest people here, by 
their contributions, would put to shame many of our 
well-to-do friends at home/ 

Mr Maughan's lectures on science made a con- 
siderable impression on the intelligent inhabitants of 
Adelaide ; they brought him into association with the 
literati of the city, and its scientific organizations. He 
was elected a member of the Adelaide Philosophical 
Society j and on the first night of introduction he had 
the honour of exhibiting some of the beautiful philo- 
sophical apparatus kindly given to him by his Bristol 
friends, before the Governor of the Colony, the Lord 
Bishop of the Diocese, and a large portion of the 
literati of the city. 

Soon after this he held the inaugural soiree 
of the Methodist Neiv Connexion Young Men's 

0 



I 



66 



MEMOIR OP THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAjST. 



Literary and Philosophical Society in the Assembly 
Room. About 150 sat down to tea. An hour 
was spent in looking at stereoscopes, thauma- 
tropes, kaleidoscopes, microscopes, debuscopes, dio- 
ramas, and other philosophical instruments; after 
which Mr Marshall was called to the chair. He made 
a neat and suitable speech. The Secretary reported 
f the enrolment of 40 members, which at our meeting 
this week/ he stated, f has been increased to 50. We are 
very awkwardly situated for a room to meet in, as we 
cannot have the room in which we worship for less 
than 80s. a night/ Mr Maughan, writing to the 
Mission Secretary, states — 

' The great outcry now is for a new church. This 
we must have at once, or our progress here will be 
seriously retarded. We are only waiting to hear 
from the Committee at home in relation to a grant in 
aid, after which we shall proceed to action with the 
greatest possible vigour. We want you to give us 
£500, and to lend us £1000 for seven years. I and the 
friends here will give you our personal security for the 
loan. As a matter of principle, I think ministers 
ought to be exempt from such personal responsibilities; 
but as you know me, and at present are not supposed 
to know much of our other friends here, I think it 
desirable -in this instance that I, as your agent, should 
join in the responsibility. Not that this is pecuniarily 
necessary, but it is, I think, Connexionally desirable. 
I hope you will not hesitate to meet our proposal in 
its entirety. We cannot proceed if you do. A really 
good church we must have, and no other plan than the 
one we propose is practicable to secure it. The Hon. 



LABOURS IN ADELAIDE. 



67 



G. F. Angas, one of the most wealthy and benevolent 
gentlemen in the colony, worshipped with us a few 
Sunday morniugs ago. At the close of the services he 
came and kindly offered me a site of land on which to 
build a new church — half an acre in extent — in Whit- 
more-square. The value of the gift would be nearly 
£300. Unfortunately, it is not quite near enough the 
centre of the city for our purpose. It closely adjoins 
the three-quarters of an acre previously offered us by 
Mr Marshall for the same purpose. There is a beautiful 
site in the very centre of the city, for which, by Mr 
Forster's advice, we have offered £600. There is an- 
other party after it for a similar purpose, so that it is 
doubtful whether we shall secure it ; but if we fail, 
there are other sites, very nearly as eligible, which I 
think we may have. In anticipation of a favourable 
reply from the Committee, we have already organized 
a sewing meeting to get up a bazaar. The first 
meeting was held at my house last Monday. There 
were 21 ladies present, and they set about their work 
with considerable spirit. 

' I think I told you before that we have several 
members residing at a pretty place called Norwood, 
about three miles from here, where it will be necessary 
for us to form a society and build a little church soon. 

' Yesterday I was waited upon by one of the trustees 
of the North Adelaide Temperance Hall, a fine 
building about a mile and a half from here. On behalf 
of the trustees he offered us the use of the hall for 
12 months free of rent, if I could go and occupy 
it either on Sundays or during the week evenings. 
As we have one or two families residing in that 



68 MEMOIE OP THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN". 



locality I will endeavour in some way to avail myself 
of this proposal. As, however, preaching three times 
in this climate on Sunday is out of the question, with- 
out keeping a horse, which most of the ministers are 
obliged to do, I can scarcely yet see how I can arrange 
to do so. 

' Another man will be wanted here almost immedi- 
ately, and as we must have one at once for Melbourne, 
I hope the friends of enterprise in our Connexion at 
home will pour the means upon you in such a way as 
to convince you all, of what I have already become 
convinced here, namely, that the set time to favour 
our Zion has already come. You cannot afford to 
trifle with this Mission. The people in Australia do 
not do things by halves. All other denominations are 
working here with vigour, and we shall lose caste 
in 12 months if we do not follow their example. 
You at home have long yearned for an Australian 
Mission. You have now all the opportunity of realizing 
your heart's desire. Let the friends subscribe with 
increasing liberality, and the Committee select and 
send out the right men, and soon the reproach that 
the "New Connexion needs a little more steam" will be 
wiped from our Australian history. Your kind and 
encouraging letter reached me here a few days ago. 
You cannot conceive what a happy influence a few 
kind words exert upon one's mind, while toiling all 
alone in this far off country. In England you cannot 
possibly realize the eagerness with which the arrival 
of the monthly mail is watched in these colonies, and 
the avidity with which home letters are torn open and 
read. There is precious little work done here after the 



LABOUES IN ADELAIDE. 



69 



flag lias been hoisted to indicate that the mail is in 
sight, until every letter has been delivered, and read, 
and pondered half-a-dozen times over/ 

It is gratifying to state that the Sunday scholars 
in this country inaugurated a movement to aid in the 
erection of the Adelaide chapel. They raised above 
£600 for this object. The late Mr John Whittaker of 
Hurst gave one-tenth upon that sum, and the General 
Mission fund supplemented the whole by a grant of 
above £300 ; and thus the total amount of £1000 was 
given. The Adelaide friends themselves raised the 
handsome sum of £1800 for the chapel. 



70 



CHAPTER VII. 

ME MAUGHAN's LABOUES IN ADELAIDE, 1863-4. 

In the course of a few months the congregation had 
so far increased that the Assembly Room in Hindley- 
street was found too small for their worship, and they 
were under the necessity of removing to White's 
Assembly Room in King William-street. This was 
formally opened in the month of May, 1863, and by a 
singular coincidence the opening services of this 
Assembly Room occurred exactly on the day when 
12 months ago Mr Maughan preached his farewell 
sermon to the Church at Bristol. To this fact he 
alluded in the speech he delivered at the public 
meeting held on the following day. He said it was 
just yesterday twelvemonth that he preached his 
farewell sermon in Bristol — just that night twelve- 
month, at the same hour as that in which he 
was then speaking, he was addressing some persons 
there, and thanking them for a testimonial which 
had been presented him. When first he arrived 
in the colony he succeeded in collecting 10 persons. 



LABOURS IN ADELAIDE. 



71 



Preaching was then commenced in Hindley-street, 
and lie was happy to say that since that time many 
had been converted to God and added to the Church. 
They had been compelled to remove from Hinclley- 
street to the present building. He was happy to say, 
moreover, that although a small, they were a united 
and loving Church, and he trusted Grod would continue 
to prosper and bless them. Connected with the 
Church there was an organization for the improvement 
of young men. Organizations of that kind he con- 
sidered very important, and it had ever been his 
endeavour in connexion with the preaching of the 
gospel to contribute to the improvement of young 
men. They had associated with the Church a Literary 
and Philosophical Society which now numbered about 
70 members, some of which were connected with the 
Church, and others were not. It was established on a 
catholic basis, and his wish was not to confine it to 
their Connexion merely. The object of the society 
was not simply literary and philosophical, but his wish 
was, through studies of that nature, to direct the minds 
of young men to the higher claims of Christianity. 
He then made some pertinent observations in proof 
that each one was the centre of the peculiar circle in 
which he moved, and enlarged upon the proposition 
that every man was sent into the world to do good. 
He exhorted all to do as much good as possible in the 
circles of which they were the centres, and concluded 
by an eloquent appeal to the people's hearts for God, 
and their hands for His Church. 

The coincidence referred to by Mr Maughan was 
accompanied by another equally remarkable ; for on 



72 



MEMOIR OF THE EEY. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



the self-same day lie was addressing them lie and his 
people had purchased ground for a chapel. It was 
situated in Franklin- street, in a central position, 
accessible from every part of the town, and, containing 
as it did ample space for chapel and schools, was 
reckoned cheap at £800. The friends themselves, 
under the stimulating advice and example of their 
minister, agreed to raise £1000, requesting the Mis- 
sionary Committee to make a grant of £500. Mr 
Maughan himself with a princely liberality gave the 
munificent sum of £100, an amount which indicates 
the profound and zealous interest of his soul in the 
good cause in which he was embarked. The promise 
of the friends at Adelaide to raise £1000 was subse- 
quently raised to £1800. All honour to the noble- 
minded men ! 

In the month of June, while lecturing on the 
chemistry of ' Animal and Vegetable food 3 at Gunier- 
acha, about 25 miles from Adelaide, Mr Maughan had 
occasion to illustrate one part of his lecture by the use 
of phosphorus, which exploded, and severely burnt his 
hands. But he continued his lecture without letting 
his audience know the torture he was suffering. At 
the close, however, they had to undress him and help 
him to bed. For about a month he was unable to do 
anything for himself. But he could speak as well as 
ever, and he was resolved the cause of God should not 
suffer through the accident, and therefore he preached 
as usual on the Sabbath with both hands bandaged, 
and one arm in a slino\ 

o 

The little Church, now consisting of 37 members, 
was full of encouragement and hope, yet much 



LABOURS IN ADELAIDE. 



73 



restricted in its operations for want of a place of its 
own in which to worship God and put forth its ap- 
pliances. But both pastor and people resolved to 
make the best of their circumstances until Providence 
opened their way for the erection of their projected 
chapel. 

The state of his own mind and the earnest spirit 
of the people may be seen in the following brief com- 
munication from Mr Maughan. 

' On the first Monday evening in the month of 
August we had one of the most delightful meetings it 
was ever my lot to attend. As God had blessed the 
ministry of the Word during the previous quarter, it 
was resolved that a Church tea-meeting should be held, 
for the purpose of receiving the new members into the 
privileges of Christian fellowship, and that the finan- 
cial position of the Church should be laid before the 
friends on the same evening. With about four excep- 
tions, the whole of the members of the Church were 
present at tea. After tea and devotional services, I 
delivered an address upon the responsibilities, privi- 
leges, and duties of Church-membership. The names 
of sixteen candidates were then read over, and having 
been proposed for Church-membership, each was pre- 
sented with a quarterly ticket, a copy of our General 
Rules, and the history of " The First Methodist 
Reformer," and the whole were solemnly dedicated to 
God in praise and prayer. After the solemn spiritual 
duties of the evening had been discharged, the question 
of raising the sum of £200 during the present year for 
the support of the Mission was discussed. The most 
delightful tone prevailed in the meeting. It would have 



7-1 



MEMOIR OE THE EEV. JAMES MAUGEAX. 



done the soul of the Connexion good to have heard all 
the generous and self-reliant things that were said by 
the members of the meeting. Suffice it to say, that we 
all separated resolved to give ourselves more than ever 
to prayer, and to efforts for the salvation of souls ; and 
further resolved, not only to raise £200 during the 
present year, but to make the earliest possible arrange- 
ments for entirely supporting ourselves. God is with 
us, and we believe that we shall prosper. 5 

The labours of the year were prosecuted with unre- 
mitting energy, and God continued to smile upon his 
efforts, and added to the Church by the conversion of 
souls. Cottage prayer-meetings were held in various 
parts of the city, all hands summoned to work in the 
cause of God, and ere the return of the following spring 
the Church had increased to 80 members in full fellow- 
ship. Meanwhile Mr Maughan continued to lecture on 
scientific subjects whenever he could command a spare 
evening, not only to the young men of the class he had 
formed in connexion with our cause, but also on special 
public occasions, both in Adelaide and the surround- 
ing townships at a distance of 25 and even 50 miles. 

Some persons may suppose that his frequent 
lectures on philosophical subjects interfered largely 
with his ministerial duties. But if we may judge from 
extracts from his own letters and diary, he worked 
harder than most ordinary men in immediate connex- 
ion with the Church, and made his extra scientific 
labours subservient to his influence in the duties of his 
sacred calling. 

February 25th, 1864, in writing to the General 
Secretary of the Mission, he says — 



LABOURS IN ADELAIDE. 



75 



' I am thankful to say that God continues to bless 
our labours. We still steadily increase in numbers. 
It is just 14 months since I commenced my work 
in this city. During that time we have increased 
from 10 members to 80 members, and three on 
trial ; we have raised, for all purposes, in hard cash, 
about £650 ; and have secured a congregation which 
would be a credit to any second-class chapel in our 
own denomination. We long to enter our new taber- 
nacle, where we hope for still more signal evidences of 
the Divine favour. We have organized a series of 
cottage prayer-meetings in different parts of the 
city, which give promise of being useful to us in a 
variety of ways; and we intend to form a Sunday- 
school as soon as our vestries have been finished. 
That we should have been able, in so short a time, to 
have done so much, is a matter of devout thankfulness 
to God ; and that we should have before us the prospect 
of doing so much more, is to us a subject of joyful 
anticipation. Let it not, however, be supposed that 
we have reached our present position without great 
effort on the part of all concerned. In the giving 
department, especially, our friends highly distinguish 
themselves. The poorest of them here give as only 
merchant princes do at home. 

( Since the last mail left I have been engaged in 
a variety of labours, and have had some pleasant op- 
portunities of doing good, and of extending the range 
of my knowledge of the colony. I send you the 
jottings of the past 12 days, which may serve as a 
type of the rest. 

' Sunday, Feb. 1 1th. Preached in the morning, in 



76 



MEMOTR OP THE EEV. JAMES HAUGHAN. 



White's Assembly Rooni, from John viii. 12, " I am 
the light of the world : " congregation good and deeply 
attentive. Thermometer 96° in the shade. Bathed in 
perspiration. Preached in the Primitive Methodist 
Chapel in the afternoon, on the character of Jacob. 
Weather sultry, but audience evidently interested : a 
few responses. Preached to my own people at night, 
on "The Character and Doom of the Speechless 
Wedding Intruder." Capital congregation. Con- 
ducted a good prayer-meeting after, in Masonic Hall. 
Returned home, " done up." Preaching three times 
too much for any man in this relaxing climate, espe- 
cially in hot weather. 

' Monday, 15th. Pulled up some arrears of cor- 
respondence, and prepared a lecture this morning. 
Conveyance came at two o'clock to take the ladies of 
the sewing-meeting to a friend's house in the country. 
Got 20 ladies packed in, and sent off four miles. 
Followed with my wife in half an hour. Returned 
immediately after tea to North Adelaide, six miles, 
and lectured an hour and a half in the Particular 
Baptist Chapel, for my friend Mr Prince, on " Christian 
Usefulness.'" Walked home with some friends, well 
tired. 

''Tuesday, 16th. Morning occupied with visitors. 
Two hours at noon spent with architect, in considering 
plans and tenders for new church. Afternoon and 
evening spent in pastoral visitation. Returned tired. 

' Wednesday, 1 7th. A hard day's study. Lectured 
at night to our Young Men's Literary and Philo- 
sophical Society, on the " Chemical Properties of 
Carbon, and its Compounds." The lecture was 



LABOUES IN ADELAIDE. 



77 



illustrated by a variety of successful chemical experi- 
ments. 

'Thuksday, 18th. Morning, pulpit work. Noon, 
interrupted. Afternoon, practical and theoretical 
science. Evening, met trustees of new church, and 
contractors to arrange and sign contracts. Comfort- 
able meeting. Sat up late preparing apparatus, 
infusions, and tests for lecture at Kapunda the following 
evening. 

( Fkiday, 19th. Having to leave home this afternoon 
for several days, spent morning in preparing strontium 
and baryta fires, and in collecting charts and apparatus 
for a lecture in the country next week, on light. 
Started at 4 p.m. for Kapunda, 50 miles distant. 
Was met at railway station by the Rev. C. Colwell, 
Wesleyan minister, and driven into town. Lectured 
for Educational Institute, in long room of principal 
inn, on port wine, brown stout, pale ale, and bitter 
beer. Stated some plain scientific truths. Invited to 
go again. Slept at Mr ColweLFs. 

c Satukday, 20th. Left Kapunda early. Got home 
at 1 1 a.m. Dined, and started off to Maclaren Yale, 
25 miles on the opposite side of Adelaide, in coach. 
Mrs Maughan accompanied me. Got well jolted, and 
arrived at the residence of Miss Aldersey, a philan- 
thropic lady, just returned from a Mission in China, 
where she had met my dear friend, the Rev. William 
Hall, a short time before. Chatted pleasantly, supped 
heartily, and slept like an honest man. 

' Sunday, 21st. Cool. Preached two Anniversary 
Sermons in Congregational Church, their pastor sup- 
plying for me in Adelaide. Also, addressed Sunday 



78 



MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



scholars. Spent a happy day. Collections good. 
Hope the seed may be seen after many years. 

' Monday, 22nd. Spent morning in reading the 
beautiful memoir of Dr Leifchild. Shall never forget 
a visit I paid him with Dr Waddington once. Dined 
with a few friends. Attended tea-meeting in the 
evening, and gave lecture on the life of Socrates and 
the character of Athens in his time. Audience large 
and interested. 

' Tuesday, 23rd. Read Dr Kane's Search for Sir 
John Franklin in the morning, after some devotional 
reading. Met the ladies of the sewing-meeting in the 
afternoon. Was driven seven miles to Aldinga, where 
I lectured at the Institute, on the philosophy of light 
in the evening. The road by which we went was 
fearful. Almost jolted out. The return was better. 
Got back to Maclaren Yale at 12 o'clock at night. 

' Wednesday, 24th. Left at six a.m. and got back 
to Adelaide at 10. Dined, and visited 17 families 
afterwards. Conversed with all on religious matters 
and prayed with most of them. 

' Thursday, 25th. Hard at work writing letters for 
the mail. Am just finishing this at 11 p.m. 

( These notes represent a fair sample of my regular 
work. 

' I hope you will have a happy Conference. We 
shall not forget to pray for You that God may bless 
you ; and for Ourselves, that He may put it into Your 
hearts to send a man with burning zeal to Melbourne. 

' J. Maughan/ 

Early in the spring of 1864 the foundation of the 



LABOUES IN ADELAIDE. 



79 



new chapel was laid, and the Lecture Room so soon 
as finished was occupied by the little band of wor- 
shippers for their temporary accommodation. In 
December the interior of the chapel itself was finished, 
and on the 12th of the same month the beautiful 
sanctuary was opened for worship, when a prayer- 
meeting was held to implore the Divine blessing on 
the solemn and interesting occasion. Early in the 
year Mr Clement Linley, another missionary sent out 
by the parent body, had arrived from England and 
begun his labours in Melbourne. He w T as therefore 
earnestly desired to take part in the opening services, 
but the great distance and other circumstances pre- 
vented the realization of this desire. Another arrange- 
ment had to be adopted : on Wednesday evening, De- 
cember 14, the Eev. J. Jefferis, LL.B., preached the 
opening sermon. At half-past seven o' clock, when the 
preacher ascended the spacious and beautiful platform, 
the building was quite full. The Rev. J. Maughan com- 
menced the service by reading out the noble and appro- 
priate hymn of Francis, beginning ' In sweet exalted 
strains/ &c, which was sung with great fervour by the 
congregation, led by a very excellent choir. The Rev. 
J. Jefferis, in earnest and feeling language, offered the 
dedicatory prayer. The Rev. J. Maughan then read 
suitable portions of the Scriptures ; after which an 
eloquent and appropriate sermon was preached by Mr 
Jefferis from John xii. 32, c And I, if I be lifted from 
the earth, will draw all men unto Me/ The sermon 
occupied 63 minutes in the delivery, and was listened 
to with the most profound attention. A collection was 
made at the close of the sermon, and the usual devo- 



80 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

tional services terminated the proceedings. The 
acousticpropertiesof the building appeared to be almost 
perfect. The faintest tone of the speaker's voice 
could be heard in the remotest corner. The Rev. J. 
Maughan preached on the morning of the following 
Sabbath, in the afternoon the Rev. J. Hannay, and in 
the evening the Rev. C. W. Evans. The sermons 
were appropriate, earnest, and impressive. These 
services were followed by a public meeting on the 
Monday evening, and were resumed on the following 
Sunday. The attendance was large, at night the place 
was crowded, and the collections handsome. 

The public meeting deserves special notice. Six 
hundred persons sat down to tea, and after the 
refreshing cup the chapel was crowded with people. 
J. S. Way, Esq., connected with the Bible Christians, 
and a gentleman of truly catholic spirit, was called to 
preside. 

The Chairman, after referring to the willingness 
with which he consented to fill that position, spoke of 
the pleasure attending the opening of a church in 
which the pure truths of the gospel would be preached, 
free from popish rituals and rationalistic dogmas — a 
church where the fall and the depravity of man — the 
futility of man to rid himself from sin — the great 
atonement of the Saviour — the fall and free salvation 
on condition of faith and repentance — would be set 
forth. 

The Rev. James Maughan then spoke as follows : 
c Mr Chairman — It is with devout thankfulness to 
God that I stand here to-night to report our pro- 
ceedings as a Church during the past year. It is two 



LABOUES IN ADELAIDE. 



81 



years, I believe, this very day, since I commenced my 
ministry in this city. It is exactly 12 months since 
the foundations of this church were commenced; 
and, to borrow the figurative language of the Prophet 
Micah, we are now permitted to worship God beneath 
our own vine. We are constrained to look back upon 
the past with gratitude, and to say, " The Lord hath 
done great things for us whereof we are glad." 
It may be a matter of interest to state that the 
cost of the chapel and school, including land and all 
expenses to render the building complete, makes a total 
of £4570. To meet this expenditure there has been 
about £1100 promised in subscriptions, of which 
about £850 have been paid. The bazaar held in June 
last realized about £350, making a total of £1200 raised 
by the Church and friends during the past 12 months, 
exclusive of these opening services. £1000 have been 
sent to us from England, and £2000 have been borrowed 
here, making a total of £4200, thus leaving a deficiency 
of nearly £400, besides £100 which will be required 
for gates and palisades. How to meet this deficiency 
is the question for our great consideration to-night/ 
With respect to the clearing off of the debt, he had to 
tell them that there was a gentleman present who was 
anxious to see all the liabilities cleared off, and had 
made a liberal offer. It was that if 100 persons would 
subscribe £5 each, 250 persons £2 10s. each, or 500 
persons £1 each, he would subscribe £100. Of course 
it depended upon them that evening as to whether 
this offer should be accepted ; and he hoped the 
gentleman referred to would not be allowed to ]eave 
the building that night without the assurance that his 

6 



82 



MEMOIR OF THE EEY. JAMES MAUGHAM". 



cheque for the amount of his promise would be re- 
quired in the morning. He had large faith that this 
appeal to them would be successful, as he felt sure 
they would wish to secure the desire of his heart, as 
his people had hitherto been so ready to anticipate all 
his desires. He cordially thanked the friends of other 
denominations for their presence and assistance at 
the opening services, and also for the valuable aid 
they rendered at the bazaar, especially their Wes- 
leyan brethren, to whom he was very grateful. The 
collection was then made. Mr Maughan assured 
the people that if they that evening subscribed 
the sum of £500 (which would secure the £100 
which had been promised) he would ask them for 
nothing more for a considerable time to come. He 
thought every one should ask himself, 'How much 
owest thou thy Lord ? ' and on that principle he would 
commence the list by subscribing £20 himself. 

Collectors then went along the aisles of the church 
to see what they could get towards the £500, and 
after an energetic effort the sum of £131 9s. 6rf. was 
collected or promised. This, with the opening services, 
which realized about £120, made a gross total of 
£251 9s. 6d. subscribed towards the aforesaid £500. 
The Chairman on behalf of the trustees thanked the 
audience for their liberality. 

He might well thank the congregation, — they 
deserved his commendation. That an infant Church of 
only two years' standing and situated at the antipodes 
of the Parent Body, should have acquired sufficient 
strength and influence to srive and raise such sums as 
are here reported, is marvellous. Yet this large 



LABOUES IN ADELAIDE. 



83 



amount w,as subsequently increased, and tlie total 
raised by this infant Church for the erection of the 
chapel was the remarkable sum of £1808 15s. 3d., 
towards which Mr Maughan and his devoted wife and 
family contributed £124 10s. 

The Church now entered upon a new era of its 
existence. Contemplating their more favourable 
position, Mr Maughan says two things only are now 
needed to make the cause everything that can be 
desired, and these are an earnest ministry and a 
praying Church. Oh that the Holy Ghost may come 
down, as in days of old, upon the people like unto 
cloven tongues of fire ! Brethren, pray for us, that we 
may be richly endued with power from on high. 
Minister and people united heartily in their work, 
adopting those scriptural means adapted to consolidate 
and expand both the material and spiritual interests of 
the Church. It was the regular practice of Mr and 
Mrs Maughan, who was as zealous and laborious as 
himself, to devote the whole of Monday to pastoral 
visitation. They set out together about half-past nine 
in the morning, and went the whole day from house to 
house, visiting the sick, strengthening the weak, and 
stirring up the negligent. If all our ministers dili- 
gently and faithfully performed this duty, the bond of 
sympathy and love between the pulpit and the 
pew would be strengthened, and the power for 
good would be immensely increased. When this 
duty is neglected coldness and estrangement, 
inactivity and declension invariably follow. No 
amount of pulpit ability can compensate for the neglect 
of pastoral visitation. 



84 MEMOIE OE THE KEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



Having now accommodation for a Sunday school, 
one was formed at once, consisting of 126 scholars. 
The congregations were greatly enlarged, and the 
prospects of growing usefulness encouraged both 
minister and people. Mr Maughan, in a letter written 
shortly after the opening of the chapel, thus writes 
respecting the state of the Church under his pastoral 
care : — 

' Of our success here there is now not the slightest 
doubt. Our congregations have greatly increased on 
the Sunday morning, and on the Sunday evening the 
church is quite full. We have resolved to raise this 
next year, if possible, £200 towards my salary, and 
probably the following year we shall raise it all. 
Our quarterly collections yesterday amounted to 
£9 13s. 6cl. We have now 82 members in church-fellow- 
ship. We have 14 Sunday-school teachers, and a 
most flourishing Sunday-school of 126 scholars. We 
are shortly to have a Juvenile Missionary Meeting. 
The scholars are now collecting, in imitation of the 
scholars at home. They say if the English Sunday 
scholars have raised so much for them, they must raise 
something for themselves. They intend, therefore, to 
present us with a handsome eight days'' clock to cost 
10 guineas. I ought also to say that we have a fine 
tone of feeling in our congregation at the present 
moment.'' 

June 26th Mr Maughan again writes to the 
General Secretary of the Mission : 

' I am happy to say that we experience no diminu- 
tion here of the hold which we have obtained upon the 
public attention. I have been delivering a series of 



LABOURS IN ADELAIDE. 



85 



special discourses during the last six weeks, which I 
shall continue for some time longer. These discourses 
have for their object to warn men of their spiritual 
peril, and to rouse men to flee from the wrath to come. 
Our congregations in the morning are now all that we 
can desire, and in the evening they are overflowing. I 
am sure it would do your soul good to be able to look 
inside our beautiful church during any of our Sabbath 
services. We are also steadily gathering numbers into 
the fold again. Several interesting cases of conversion 
have recently come under my notice, which I trust will 
be found abiding in the day of the Lord.' 

The Conferential year was now closing, and we find 
the following statistics of the Mission, 82 members, four 
probationers, and 126 Sunday scholars. 



86 



CHAPTER VIII. 

LABOUES IN ADELAIDE, ETC., 1865-6. 

Up to this period Mr Maughan had resided 
in a small house, which was inconvenient and damp 
as well as small, and yet at a rent of £70 per 
annum. Yet here, prior to the erection of the chapel, 
the class-meetings, meetings for young men, and 
meetings for church business had hitherto been 
conducted. It was extremely desirable that a suitable 
house should be erected as a Mission residence, and 
to this important object Mr Maughan' s attention was 
next directed. 

The Hon. Gr. F. Angus, who had previously given 
£20 towards the erection of the chapel, and also 
offered a piece of ground for the same, but which, on 
account of its locality, was not accepted, now gener- 
ously offered a most eligible site comprising half an 
acre for the erection of the minister's house. This 
was another important and responsible undertaking. 
The plans were soon prepared, and the building com- 
menced. 



LABOURS IN ADELAIDE, ETC. 



87 



Mr Maughan at this time liad as mucli to do in 
f os term a- the infant Church at Adelaide as most men 
would deem quite sufficient to occupy their whole 
energies, yet he continued to fill up every vacant 
evening either with lectures on some scientific topic, 
or other meetings of a specific character. Nor did 
even these satisfy his yearnings for usefulness. He 
felt urged by an irrepressible desire to get into some 
of the outlying townships, and to this end he sought 
to raise up a band of local preachers, and so soon as 
the men were ready a sphere of usefulness was 
opened. In a letter to the Eev. S. Hulme, the General 
Secretary of the Mission, we see the workings of 
his active and aggressive spirit. 

< Adelaide, Eeb. 24th, 1866. 

e Since I last wrote you several matters of interest 
have arisen indicative of the progressive character of 
our Mission. About three months ago we resolved 
on the formation of a staff of local preachers, believing 
that we had now acquired sufficient strength in the 
heart of the colony to justify us in commencing 
aggressive movements. The question, however, 
arose, of what use were local preachers on a plan, 
without local places to which to send them ? But all 
God's works have logic in the order of their arrange- 
ment, and so ought those of the Adelaide Methodist 
New Connexion. Let us then organize a staff of men 
for work, and trust to the yearnings of human neces- 
sity, and the openings of a gracious providence for 
the rest. Strange to say, three brethren had barely 
preached their trial sermons when the Macedonian 
cry, " Come over and help us," from a distance of nine 



88 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



miles, fell upon our ears. A small township in Hope 
Valley, comparatively destitute of religious ordinances, 
required our help. On visiting the locality and 
preaching to its people, I found a door of usefulness 
open to us. The matter was duly laid before our 
January Quarterly Meeting, and Hope Valley placed 
upon our plan. During the following week 1 paid a 
pastoral visit to the people of the neighbourhood, and 
formed a Church of several members, as the nucleus 
and starting-point of future labours. 

( We now had to direct our attention to the question 
of a place of worship. A cottage we could have, but 
there were many reasons against its occupation. A 
small " Anybodies' chapel/'' that nobody, for various 
reasons, cared about attending, was available without 
cost, and therefore accepted by us ; but it was felt that 
a new chapel must be at once erected, if permanent 
results were to be secured. Several commanding 
sites of land were inspected, and the owners inquired 
after. One of the latter proving to be a gentleman 
with whom I was personally acquainted, I resolved to 
use my friendship in the service of the Church. In 
reply to my request for the gift of half-an-acre of 
land, I received the prompt response, " I shall be most 
happy to oblige you, and also to give you a guinea 
towards the furtherance of your pious object.-" Great 
vigour and promptitude, however, were now required. 
The gentleman, Capt. Stephenson, would leave for 
England in ten days. If the land were not conveyed 
before that time, expense and delay must necessarily 
result. The land was leased, and the lease must be 
surrendered before the transfer could be signed. 



LAB 0 UBS IN ADELAIDE, ETC. 



89 



Fortunately the lessee, Mr Reeves, was allied with us 
in the project. By laying hold, therefore, of the matter 
with a firm hand, and performing sundry long but 
rapid journeys, we succeeded in getting the lease 
surrendered, the land conveyed, a new lease pre- 
pared, and all duly signed, sealed, and delivered, 
within nine days after the land had been promised 
to us. 

'But now arose the greater question, — having 
secured the land, whence were to come the means to 
build the house of worship ? Hence a tea-meeting 
was held, and subscriptions towards a new chapel 
were promised amounting to £75. Plans for a small 
but beautiful little church, to cost about £250, have 
already been prepared, several trustees have been 
selected, and we hope in a very short time to be able 
to report to you the completion of this, the second 
place of worship in connection with our Mission to 
these Colonies. That Hope Valley may become a 
fruitful field for my own labours, and those of my local 
brethren in this city, cannot but be a subject of 
" Hope " to us all. 

'We have held our January Quarterly Meeting, and 
in connection with that meeting our usual Church 
quarterly tea-meeting. The day of the tea-meeting 
was unusually hot, yet there was a goodly attendance 
of members. The meeting after tea was opened with 
prayer, suitable portions of Scripture were read, and 
after an address by myself, on the nature, importance, 
and obligations of Church-membership, 17 pro- 
bationers were formally admitted into full member- 
ship with the Church. The quarterly balance sheet 



90 



MEMOIR OP THE REV. JAMES MA UGH AX. 



was read by tlie stewards, and tlie transaction of 
several items of ordinary business concluded a very 
happy meeting. 

' Our Quarterly Meeting was the largest we have 
ever held ; the presence of Brother Linley from Mel- 
bourne, and a deputation from Hope Yalley, heightened 
the interest of the evening. Brother Wallis, who had 
just arrived from St Ives, in Cornwall, was received upon 
our plan as a local preacher, several brethren were 
received on trial, and the usual items of quarterly 
business were discharged ; the Church was reported to 
be in every respect in a healthy and prosperous con- 
dition, and after singing the doxology the brethren 
departed to their homes with emotions of gratitude 
and joy. 

f On the following Lord's day, February 4th, our 
anniversary sermons were preached in the morning 
and evening by the Bev. Clement Linley, who had 
come from Melbourne for the purpose ; and by the 
Bev. W. Taylor of California, in the afternoon. 
Although the thermometer, which had been steadily 
rising during the whole of the week, was standing at 
110° in the shade, — a point which it seldom reaches 
in this colony even during the hottest weather — there 
was a large congregation in the morning, an excessively 
crowded one in the afternoon, and one in the evening 
quite as large as could be anticipated from the 
temperature of the day. Mr Linley' s sermon in the 
morning, from Jude 20, was both appropriate to the 
occasion and profitable to the people. The sermon in 
the evening, from Bhilippians i. 21, was a compre- 
hensive exposition of the text, and was delivered with 



LAB0UE3 IN ADELAIDE, ETC. 



91 



great eloquence and energy. The three collections 
amounted to about £26. On the following Monday 
evening our public tea-meeting was held; the 
temperature was still at roasting point, which con- 
siderably interfered with the attendance of our friends. 
The proceeds of the whole of the services amounted 
to £50, which was increased by subscriptions to £200/ 
Up to this time Mr Maughan's health had been 
almost uninterrupted. His vigorous constitution had 
sustained herculean toils, and probably would have 
remained unbroken for a number of years, but the 
damp experienced in his old residence brought on 
congestion of his right lung. Here was the beginning 
of those complicated ailments which ultimately proved 
fatal. He now left that unhealthy dwelling and 
entered his new and suitable residence, and it is in his 
notice of this change we have the first intimation of 
his illness. 

' April 28th, 1866. 
' I have now begun to recover some of my old 
elasticity ; but I am sorry to say, that although 
receiving the very best medical advice, I still suffer 
much respiratory inconvenience from congestion of the 
right lung. I have now bitterly to regret that I did 
not leave my old residence at least a year before I did 
so. But anxious to reside in the neighbourhood of 
the scene of my labours, and the impossibility of 
sparing more out of my salary than I was then paying 
in the form of rent, restrained me from yielding at an 
earlier period to the remonstrances of my friends. I 
am happy, however, to inform you that last week I 
removed into our new and beautiful Mission House. 



92 



MEMOIE OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



This event forms another and not the least interesting 
of the many little eras which have arisen in such rapid 
succession, in the brief history of our Mission to South 
Australia. There were, only three years and four 
months ago, our opening services in Hillier's room ; 
then followed our removal to the Assembly Rooms ; 
then came the tea-meeting for opening our subscrip- 
tion list ; then the laying of the foundation-stone of the 
church ; then our first bazaar ; then the opening of 
our lecture room ; then the opening services of the 
church; then the enclosure of the property by an 
ornamental wall ; then our second bazaar ; then the 
gift of land for our Mission House ; then our first 
anniversary services ; then the opening of our new 
cause at Hope Valley ; and now the completion of the 
Mission House and my comfortable translation thereto. 
For all that God has enabled us to realize during so 
short a period, we ascribe to Him the glory. I ought 
to explain that the Mission House is two stories high. 
It is about 580 yards from the church, and stands 
50 feet back from the road, on the east side of 
Whitmore Square. Besides the 50 feet of land in 
the front, we have 34 feet on each side of the 
house, and 116 feet at the back. There are three 
rooms on the ground floor. Behind these have been 
attached a large kitchen, store-room, and wash-house. 
The upper stories consist of three bed-rooms, with a 
small bath-room, which is much needed in this 
climate, and a wardrobe. The whole building has 
been finished in a style which is as creditable to the 
builders as it is ornamental to the neighbourhood, and 
satisfactory to the trustees. The total cost, including 



LABOURS IN ADELAIDE, ETC. 



93 



the fencing of the ground, the outhouses, and the 

architect's commission, will be about £1000. It is 

said to be the cheapest house of its kind, as it is also 

one of the best, that has been erected in this quarter 

of the city. The rent I shall have to pay the trustees 

will be about £100 a-year, which will be equivalent to 

10 per cent, on the outlay.* This may seem to our 

friends in England an enormous rental, which it most 

certainly is ; but when they learn that I have hitherto 

paid £70 a-year for less than half the conveniences, in 

a house which I had better have given £200 never to 

have seen ; and that I should have to pay at least 

£150 for such a house as this, under the circumstances 

they will probably agree with me and our friends here, 

that we have taken the very best course possible for 

us to take. To have built a smaller or less convenient 

Mission House would have been unwise economy. 

The labour and sacrifice will be nearly all my own; as, in 

a few years, the charge for the rent will be first greatly 

reduced, and then finally extinguished. 

f We have now got, in the way of city property, 

nearly all our hearts can wish. It has been a great 

effort, and the amount of money contributed by a 

handful of people has been truly astonishing. It now 

only remains that we steadily pay off the debts we have 

contracted, and continue to seek a larger measure of 

Divine influence upon our religious services. That 

God has been with us during the past year has been 

abundantly proved to us ; as upwards of 40 members 

have been added to our fellowship during that period. 

* Rents are enormously high in Adelaide, and the missionary 
pays his own rent. 



94 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MATJGHAX. 

This would have been an increase of 50 per cent, upon 
the returns of the preceding year, but for the fact 
that the very large number of 21 members have either 
removed or have been discontinued during the year. 
Still we return an increase of 25 per cent, for which 
we have reason to be thankful to God. "We have 
raised, with a slight special effort, the £200 we 
volunteered for the Minister's support ; and, but for 
the long drought, and the almost famine prices of 
provisions to which we are now subjected, we should 
have made a self-supporting experiment during the 
ensuing year. As, however, our trust responsibilities 
are heavy, and the future year looms somewhat darkly 
in its commercial aspects, we can only pledge our- 
selves to do our best to raise £250, and thus to exceed 
by 25 per cent, our last year's effort. 

' The total amount of money raised for all purposes 
by us last year is as follows : — 

Trust Estate : 

£ s. d, £ s. d. 

Subscriptions paid . . . . 282 18 8 

Bazaar 193 19 7 

Tea Meeting and Collection 33 11 0 

Lecture 19 5 6 

Three Collections . . . . 25 10 7 

Seat Rents 150 2 6 

705 7 10 

Support of the Ministry . . 200 7 4j 

Sabbath School . . . . 18 10 0 



£924 5 2J 



LABOUES IN ADELAIDE^ ETC. 



95 



' This, I think, you will credit as being a large 
amount, considering that at the commencement of the 
year we numbered only 82 members, and at the present 
time number only 102, and five on trial. That we may 
be able to labour with greater earnestness and success 
during the ensuing year than during the past, and 
that God may still more abundantly bless you in Con- 
ference deliberation, and us in Missionary employment, 
is my heart's wish and my fervent prayer. 

' James Maughan.' 

During this year Mr Maughan entered the lists 
against the presumptuous prophets of a premillennial 
advent, and Mr Baxter especially, as the rash theorist 
who had identified Napoleon III. as the Apocalyptic 
Beast. Mr Maughan delivered a lecture both in our 
own church, and subsequently in the Assembly Room, 
exposing the rashness and folly of these prophets. 
The lecture was subsequently published by request. 
A copy now lies before me. It exhibits no small 
degree of research and logical acumen, and is a brief 
but thorough refutation of those pretentious inter- 
preters who have presumed to determine the times or 
the seasons which God hath put in His own power, 
but which for wise and holy reasons he hath hidden 
from the most penetrating sagacity of man. 



96 



CHAPTER IX. 

FAILING HEALTH AND ARDUOUS LABOURS, 1867-8. 

Two causes now combined to interrupt that bright 
and prosperous course which had hitherto marked Mr 
Maughan's efforts, namely, the loss of his own health, 
and the commercial depression of the colony ; but he 
struggled against both with a manly energy and a 
fortitude unsubdued, and he was so far successful as 
to maintain the ground he had won, and secure even 
a small increase in the number of members. The 
monetary difficulties of the Church were somewhat 
oppressive, but he lightened them by the financial re- 
sults of his own lectures. We have seen that in the 
previous year he thus supplemented above £19 to the 
ordinary income of the estate ; and during the present 
year he presented nearly £37 from a repetition of the 
same efforts. His own benevolence stimulated the 
generosity of others, and the Church and trust estate 
at Adelaide during that year of commercial depression 
raised above £600 for various purposes. It is worthy 
of record, too, that during the same year of adversity 
the chapel at Hope Yalley was erected, and a project 



FAILING HEALTH AND AEDUOUS LABOURS. 97 



was started for reducing £500 of the debt on the 
minister's house. Truly the liberal soul deviseth 
liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand. 

The state of the Church, both financially and 
spiritually, and the efforts of himself and the friends 
to sustain and promote its interests, may be seen 
from his own words. In giving his report of the year 
1867 he says — 

' I should have been glad if my report for the 
present yea.r had been of a more glowing character. 
To me nothing is perfectly satisfactory that does not 
indicate real and clearly defined progress. On every 
previous occasion like the present I have been able 
to record some positive advancement, either in the 
work of extension or of consolidation. But during 
the present year I fear that we have done little more 
than maintain our well-earned ground. You are 
aware, from my previous reports, that this colony 
has for the last twelve months been passing through 
a terrible commercial crisis. Our staple products 
are wool, wheat, and copper. From the two latter 
a large portion of the population derives its sub- 
sistence. But it is from our pastoral and wool pro- 
ducing pursuits that our colony has for a great length 
of time derived its chief wealth. Our squatters have 
for many years been the pillars of the state. In con- 
sequence, however, of two long years of drought, the 
immense flocks of many of them have perished, and 
their fortunes have correspondingly collapsed. The 
losses of the squatters have fallen upon the banks; 
these have therefore been compelled to put the screw 
on the smaller tradesmen ; the smaller tradesmen have 

7 



93 



MEMOIR OP THE REV. JAMES M AUG HAN. 



been compelled to put the screw on their customers, 
and the consequence has been that the entire credit of 
the colony has failed, and one great commercial crash 
has followed another, till there is not an individual to 
be found who has not, in some way, been a sufferer 
from the panic. All Churches in the colony have suf- 
fered more or less from this cause ; but as our building 
enterprises had put our friends under high financial 
pressure just at the time when the panic was portend- 
ing, we have probably suffered more than others. 
Still, we have reason to be thankful that we have been 
able so far safely to outride the storm. If, to use a 
nautical figure, we have been for a short time com- 
pelled to " lay to," and therefore to lose our " head- 
way," we have been able so to adjust our canvas as 
to save ourselves from drifting "astern." To our 
Father we give thanks for this. At our October 
Quarterly Meeting the first real shadow of disappoint- 
ment we have ever experienced came across the hori- 
zon of our hopes. Our congregations were becoming 
slightly thinner, and from the number of deaths and 
removals, we had a decrease of 15 members. During 
the following quarter, however, G-od blessed the 
preaching of the word in such a way, that our congre- 
gations recovered their ground, and our losses of 
members were entirely restored. Our statistics stand 
as follows : chapels, two ; societies, two ; Circuit 
preacher, one ; local preachers, seven ; members, 
108; probationers, two; deaths, four; removals, 12; 
Sabbath schools, one; teachers, 15; scholars, 107. 
The total amount raised during the year for the sup- 
port of the minister is about £200; and the follow- 



FAILING HEALTH AND ARDUOUS LABOURS. 99 



ing abstract, prepared by the treasurer, will show 
what has been done for the trust estate. 



1866. Eeceipts. 

£ s. d. 

Jan. 1. Balance 49 1 0 

Loans . . 707 14 0 

Subscriptions 99 1 9 

Seat Rents 94 8 0 

Collections 54 15 11 

Tea Meeting 32 15 2 
Two Lectures, 
by the Rev. 

J.Maughan 36 17 0 

Sundries . . 27 4 0 



£1101 16 10 



1866. Expenditure. 

£ s. d. 
Builders, for Mis- 
sion-House 665 14 9 
Gas .... 16 11 6 
Interest . . 167 12 8 
Printing . . 11 12 6 
Loans repaid 155 14 0 
Insurance . . 6 5 0 
Expenses of Tea 6 15 0 
Attendant's 

Salary . . 24 19 0 

Sundries . . 45 3 0 

Balance . . 19 5 

£1101 16 10 



' The liabilities of the trustees are very consider- 
able. The debt upon the church at Christmas last 
was nearly £2500. It is absolutely necessary that 
this debt should be greatly reduced as early as pos- 
sible. The friends have done nobly the last year. 
Oar unassuming friend Mr Peck has promised £50, 
and the Hon. Gr. F. Angus £50, towards £500, which 
we propose to raise during the next six months.'' 

Mr Maughan took a deep interest in our Foreign 
Mission, and the general usefulness of the Body. He 
loved it with the fervour of a child towards his own 
father, and it was an object of his intense desire to 
render the Infant Church at Adelaide not only self- 



100 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. JAMES MATTGHAN. 

sustaining, but a source of pecuniary help to the 
Parent Body, in extending the gospel to the regions 
beyond. Hearing of the gracious work of God in 
China, in which about 100 heathen were converted to 
Christ, he writes, April 9, 1867 : 

' I am truly glad to hear the glorious news from 
China. Coming at the moment of the arrival of two 
new agents, it seems happily providential for both 
ends of the Mission. These tidings will put fresh life 
into our missionary friends, and ought greatly to im- 
prove our status in the eyes of the missionary world. 

c I am happy to be able to report a very healthy 
state of things in connection with our Mission here. 
Since last mail our congregations have continued to 
improve, and we have had several interesting cases of 
conversion. There is a precious feeling experienced 
in our public services. Our praying men, steadily in- 
creasing in number, enter with greater fervour into 
our religious services, and altogether we have in our 
midst the unmistakable evidences of spiritual life. I 
am looking forward to a happy and successful winter 
in connection with our Mission. We are not yet quite 
through our pecuniary anxieties, but there is no ques- 
tion that we shall surmount them. Our quarterly 
Church- meeting is to be held in the course of a fort- 
night, when I intend to propose a plan by which as 
speedily as possible to make our Adelaide Church 
self-supporting. 

' We intend to lay the foundation stone of our 
Hope Valley little church next week. The pressure 
of the times has long retarded that work, but we think 
our way is now open to advance. Next to the conver- 



FAILING HEALTH AND ARDUOUS LABOURS. 101 

sion of sinners, tliere are two things required here in 
the coming year. The first is the reduction of the 
floating debt upon our beautiful church and noble 
Mission House, and the other is the raising up of 
our local contributions for the support of the Mission. 
To all these objects I mean by God's help to devote 
my untiring energies during the approaching winter. 
That my heart's desire may be realized, I am sure you 
will join me in earnest prayer/ 

On Thursday, May 9th, the foundation of the little 
church at Hope Valley was laid, on the land given by 
Captain Stephenson. Many friends from Adelaide 
were present, and Mr Maughan went through services 
on that occasion by no means compatible with his 
state of health. He opened the devotional services, 
he then addressed the assembly on the character and 
objects of the building; after the stone was laid he 
mounted the platform and delivered an address on the 
doctrines and polity of the Denomination ; and after 
tea, in an adjoining tent, the company proceeded to 
the German chapel, kindly lent for the occasion, and 
there he delivered a lecture of two hours' length on 
' The Bible, the Foundation of the Christian Faith.' 
An effort this, however indicative of his zeal, was by 
no means a display of his prudence. To a man in the 
full vigour of health the labour was excessive, to one 
suffering from disease it was self-immolation. 

Mr Maughan, being now a citizen of Adelaide, took 
a deep interest in the social and sanitary condition of 
his adopted city. He might indeed say in a spirit of 
cosmopolitan humanity higher than that of the old 
Roman in Terence, ' I am a man, and whatever con- 



102 MEMOIR OP THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

cerns man is interesting to me/ The city of Adelaide 
was badly drained, or not drained at all. Many of 
the houses in consequence were damp, and in some 
cases the sewage had percolated the soil to the wells, 
and, by polluting the water, had caused typhoid 
disease and death ; and Mr Maughan had suffered in 
himself and his family from the same cause. He had 
lost one darling child five years of age, and his own 
vigorous constitution had received irreparable injury 
from a damp residence. Mr Maughan, therefore, called 
the attention of the civic authorities to the subject of 
drainage, and delivered a most able and scientific 
lecture thereon. This lecture by special request he 
was called upon to deliver before the Adelaide Philo- 
sophical Society. In the lecture Mr Manghan took a 
most thoroughly comprehensive and practical, as well 
as scientific view of the subject, and recommended 
the adoption of deep drainage as the only means of 
effectually securing the health of the city. The lecture 
was highly applauded by the Philosophical Society, 
special thanks were voted, and it was printed by their 
request and expense. A copy of the lecture now lies 
before me, and I have no hesitation in pronouncing it 
a masterly production. 

During this year there was also another noticeable 
fact indicative of the versatile talent and abundant 
labours of our friend, in the production of f A prize 
essay on the Diseases in Wheat.'' It appears that 
during successive years the harvests of Australia had 
been blighted, and farmers were ruined by the preva- 
lence of disease in the wheat. This led to much in- 
quiry and discussion as to the cause of the disease and 



FAILING HEALTH AND ARDUOUS LABOURS. 103 

its cure ; and on November 8th, 1866, the committee of 
the South Australian Agricultural and Horticultural 
Society resolved ' That a prize be offered of £50 on 
the diseases of wheat, commonly known as " the Red 
and Black Rusts and Takeall," and the best practical 
remedy for them ; also a second prize of £25, and a 
third prize of £10/ Due notice was given, and 11 
essays were sent in for competition. May 3rd, 1867, 
was fixed for the award, and on that day the five 
judges, men of high position and competence, de- 
livered their verdict, awarding the first prize to Mr 
Maughan. 

A copy of this important and successful essay now 
lies before me. It is replete with scientific informa- 
tion, and reflects high honour on the extensive know- 
ledge and scientific research of Mr Maughan. It is 
well worthy of being republished in this country for 
the amount of valuable information it supplies on a 
subject intimately connected with the general good. 

Mr Maughan' s lectures on scientific subjects, 
illustrated as they usually were by experiments, had 
made him an authority on many questions of social 
interest. He was frequently applied to by private 
individuals and public bodies to analyze various sub- 
stances, and give the results for their guidance. 
Sometimes the properties of certain ores, of certain 
soils, of food, and of water, were submitted to his 
analytical investigation, and his judgment was gen- 
erally accepted. The water in the Northern Territory 
having been represented as being impure, and as 
having caused the illness of an exploring party, by its 
being impregnated with copper and sulphuretted 



104 



MEMOIR OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



hydrogen, bottles were filled with the water and 
sealed, and sent by the ship ' Beatrice' to Mr Maughan 
and Charles Clarke, M.D., F.R.C.S., for their special 
analysis, and their analysis was published under 
government authority. 

His experiments, while beneficial and valuable to 
others, were not always equally so to himself, for 
besides the trouble they entailed, in one or two cases 
they were personally injurious. On one occasion a 
friend of his having been supplied from a store in 
Adelaide with a material he had bought for the oxide 
of manganese, and part of the substance having ex- 
ploded in an experiment, he brought a portion of the 
same to Mr Maughan for examination, when it was 
ascertained to be the chlorate of potash, and produced 
a second explosion which seriously injured Mr 
Maughan. The purchaser instituted legal proceedings 
against the vendor for damages, when Mr Maughan 
was summoned to give scientific evidence on the 
question. He did so, and the firm was fined £50. His 
judgment had now become quite an authority on 
scientific questions. 

In the year 1867 Mr Maughan felt it his duty to 
oppose the pretensions of one Dr — C, who had come 
to Adelaide as an experimental lecturer on phrenology 
and mesmerism. Believing the public to be gulled 
by artifices, and science itself degraded by charlatan- 
ism, Mr Maughan both wrote and lectured against the 
pretence. He also challenged the professor to a 
scientific investigation before a competent committee 
of gentlemen. The professor, however, declined to 
submit his pretensions to the committee, and the 



FAILING HEALTH AND ARDUOUS LABOURS. 105 



matter terminated without a full investigation being 
made. Mr Maughan, however, delivered a series of 
lectures entitled respectively, Objections to phreno- 
logy as a scheme of mental science ; the Psychological 
and swindling aspects of phrenology ; the Psycholo- 
gical and swindling aspects of mesmerism, animal 
magnetism, electrical biology, magnetic somnambul- 
ism, and clairvoyance. 

We come now to a period when Mr Maughan^s 
illness became so serious that he was compelled not 
only to slacken his extraordinary efforts, but at times 
to suspend even his ordinary ministerial labours. He 
had long and manfully struggled against his growing 
infirmities, but in the year 1868 it became evident 
that he must have some continuous relaxation. His 
medical attendant and his friends indeed strongly 
urged a voyage to England, and some continued 
residence here as essential to his recovery — advice 
which he was extremely reluctant to adopt. This 
arrest to his labours was to him a sad and sorrowful 
disappointment, as it not only interfered with his 
ministry, but broke upon his plans, and defeated his 
sanguine purposes for the effectual relief of the Ade- 
laide estate, and the rendering of the Church a self- 
sustaining cause. He did not murmur or charge 
God foolishly, but his submission was accompanied 
with an eagerness for work which affliction itself could 
scarcely restrain. A supply was engaged for his relief, 
and in the mean time he postponed his return to Eng- 
land, and rendered such occasional service as his dila- 
pidated health permitted him to perform. The spiritual 
state of the Church at this trying period was sustained 



106 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAX. 

to a gratifying degree, and the returns to Conference 
report 112 members, being an increase of four. 

As an evidence of the elasticity and recuperative 
power of Mr Maughan's constitution, the graver 
symptoms of his disease became considerably miti- 
gated by partial rest, and he clung to the hope of 
recovery without the necessity of returning to Eng- 
land for the present, and unwisely resumed his 
labours too soon, and to an extent far beyond his 
physical strength. Preach he would, when more 
fitted for his bed than the pulpit, and out he would go 
among his people, and present he would be in their 
midst when his ailments required careful nursing on 
the couch. Hence under date June 22nd he writes : — 

c Though now entirely free from the pain which I 
have so long suffered at my heart, the attacks of 
dyspepsia are still frequent and sometimes distressing. 
I am, however, able to give active superintendence to 
the Church, and with the assistance of Mr Merriman 
(the supply) to keep everything in satisfactory opera- 
tion. I am thankful to say that God's presence is still 
with us. We have recently had several interesting 
cases of conversion. Last night, at the moment I 
was obliged to leave the prayer-meeting, after preaching 
from " Nay, father Abraham : but if one went unto 
them from the dead, they will repent," Luke xvi. 80, 
three penitents were presenting themselves at the 
communion rails/ This brief passage shows where 
his heart was — in his work, the most spiritual and 
important part of his work, the work of converting 
souls. 

We have mentioned the name of Mr Merriman 



FAILING HEALTH AND ARDUOUS LABOURS. 107 

acting as an assistant to Mr Maughan. This young 
man was a resident of Melbourne at the time he was 
called to help Mr Maughan, and the expense of his 
removal to Adelaide and his subsequent support 
would of course be considerable. To meet this, at 
least in part, Mr Maughan had recourse to his old 
expedient, that of raising money by lectures. About 
that time several terrible earthquakes had shaken 
America, and the wave of concussion traversing the 
great Southern Ocean, had extended to Australia. 
Here was a theme affording an opportunity of conveying 
much instruction, and of raising means to assist the 
cause he so much loved. No sooner were the 
purpose and plan conceived than with his usual 
promptitude he began to carry them into effect. 
Writing to the General Secretary, Mr Hulme, he 
says : — 

c Soon after the last mail I got up a lecture on the 
great earthquake in South America towards the ex- 
pense of bringing Mr Merriman from Melbourne, or, 
in other words, towards the expense of the Mission, 
which I want to increase at once by £50 a-year if pos- 
sible. Mr Merriman is working promisingly, and I 
wanted to take advantage of that. The lecture was 
delivered in our own chapel, and was listened to with 
marked attention, and the proceeds were devoted to 
the object intended/ 

Having now a colleague, Mr Maughan thought 
there was a favourable opportunity of extending the 
Mission by opening a new cause among the gold- 
diggers at Jupiter Creek, about 25 miles from Ade- 
laide. He was at that time somewhat improved in 



108 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



health. ; and on the least return of strength he could 
find no rest until he had expended it in fresh labours. 
So away the invalid starts for the creek. The account 
of his excursion we give in his own words. 

c Just as I was getting stronger, and able to preach 
twice on the Sabbath, a new gold-field was discovered 
about 25 miles from Adelaide. There was an immense 
rush to it from all parts of the colony. For two or 
three Sabbaths there were from seven to twelve 
hundred men encamped on the hill- sides of the 
Jupiter Creek, with no religious services but such as 
they extemporized among themselves. It therefore 
occurred to me that, as I could be spared for a Sunday 
or two from my own pulpit, it was our duty to visit the 
gold-diggers, with many of whom I was well ac- 
quainted, and to hold a few religious services amongst 
them. Mr Merriman kindly consented to take the 
whole of the Sabbath services in town, and we got a 
few placards published announcing my coming. 

{ Accordingly, on Saturday afternoon, September 
19th, Mr Curtis, one of our Circuit stewards, and my- 
self started in a trap for the gold-field. The weather 
was beautifully fine, and the drive through our mag- 
nificent hills, and over an elevation of 2000 feet, was 
to me exceedingly refreshing. We reached the 
" Wheat- sheaf," a quiet and respectable hotel, a little 
before sundown, where we had arranged to stay for the 
night, intending to drive the remaining four miles and 
a half through the bush to the diggings on the 
following morning. 

' Unfortunately, the next morning the rain poured 
down in torrents, and as the critical condition of my 



FAILING HEALTH AND ARDUOUS LABOURS. 109 

health was such as to forbid all foolhardy experiment s, 
we had no alternative but to stand for seven hours 
waiting and watching for such a break in the clouds 
as would justify a " rush to the diggings." Fortunately, 
about three o'clock in the afternoon the rain relaxed 
for a short time, and the sun burst from behind the 
clouds. Mr Curtis instantly ran to the stable for the 
horse, and in a few minutes we were off full drive 
through a bad bush-road, jolting over stumps and 
tree-roots, and threading our way through bushes and 
gum-trees, with as much expedition as a very capital 
horse could enable us to command. 

' When we got about half-way to our destination 
we saw, from the black, descending clouds, that ours 
was simply a race against time. If we could get 
there before fresh torrents of rain began to fall we 
should get a congregation ; if not, the people would 
be all within their tents. Our good horse seemed to 
understand that he was engaged in missionary work, 
and appeared to be trying to illustrate that magnifi- 
cent psean of the prophet, " How beautiful upon the 
mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good 
tidings." At all events we beat the rain by a few 
minutes. When we reached the top of the hill a man, 
by arrangement, began to blow a ram's horn, and by 
the time we got to the appointed rendezvous, where a 
religious service was being closed inside a small store, 
the people began to swarm from beneath their tents, 
which were pitched in a most picturesque fashion all 
round the sides of the hills. After a few minutes' 
conversation with the parties on the spot, it was 
resolved to proceed at once with the service. 



no 



ME MO IE OP THE EE V. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



' After brief devotional exercises, joined in most 
heartily by the people, I preached from Heb. i. 1. I 
told them the two finest things in the world were 
gold and the gospel. They had been toiling hard all 
the week after one, and I had now brought them the 
other. Grold and the gospel were the two greatest 
powers beneath the sun. The gospel without gold 
was like machiuery without oil; and gold without the 
gospel was like a crown without its gems. I com- 
mended them for coming to search for gold ; but I 
told them the story of Atalanta and of Bunyan's Hill 
of Lucre. I reminded them of Paul's caution to 
Timothy, and of his big tree with the love of money 
for the root ; and I entreated them neither to let gold 
nor anything else prevent them from running with 
patience the race set before them. 

'1 stood in front of Mr Barker's store, with an in- 
verted tub for a pulpit and an umbrella for a canopy, 
while the rain poured down in torrents, in spite of 
which the people manfully kept their ground to the 
last. 

' I promised to visit them again for two services 
that day fortnight. I also held a short conference 
with the men after the service, and agreed to give 
them a lecture on some week evening during the full 
moon, on the best method of getting gold, and how to 
use it. One man was afterwards heard to say, " If Mr 
Maughan can tell me how to get gold, he is just the 
man for me." 

' Immediately after the service we returned for tea 
in the pelting rain to our lodgings. On the following 
day, in the face of pelting rain and hail-storms, we got 



FAILING HEALTH AND ARDUOUS LABOURS. 



Ill 



to Adelaide, thankful that in spite of difficulties we 
had, to some extent, executed our mission.' 

A correspondent writing a few days after to the 
Kegister's gold-field Eeporter says, ' While there I 
heard on all sides expressions of thankfulness and 
gratitude towards those who had come forward to 
declare the truth to them on last Sabbath.'' 

( A fortnight later, which was last Sunday week, I 
again visited the diggings. I went on the Saturday 
afternoon, and delivered my promised lecture. I drove 
about eleven miles afterwards through the bush, a 
considerable part of the way in the dark, to Mount 
Barker, where I spent the night with our friend Mr 
Dew, and returned to preach at the diggings on the 
following day. My lecture on the Saturday evening 
secured for me both the ears and hearts of the diggers/ 

Such exertions were enough for a man in health 
and vigour, but far too much for a palpitating invalid, 
uuable to rest for pain, and taking a large quantity of 
ipecacuanha every twenty-four hours. 

The next time we see him he is not at the gold- 
creek, but embarking for England to seek health, but, 
alas, seeking it in vain. 



112 



CHAPTER X. 

MR MATTGHAN's VISIT TO ENGLAND, 1869. 

It had now become painfully evident even to him- 
self, that his labours could not be continued without 
endangering his life, and a suspension of them for 
some time was imperative. Therefore on April 22, 
1869, Mr Maughan left Adelaide for England. His 
departure, which had been delayed about two 
years for the reasons previously assigned, took place 
suddenly and unexpectedly. On the morning of the 
above day he received intimation that his friend Mr 
Way was just leaving Adelaide for England; and 
feeling, as he did, the need of friendly attention and 
succour during his voyage, and knowing the kindness 
of Mr Way, he resolved at once to avail himself of this 
opportunity, the most favourable one he could expect, 
and in 20 minutes he had packed up and was ready to 
embark. 

On arriving at Melbourne, where he had to remain 
a short time in order to change vessels, Mr Maughan 
preached twice for the Rev. C. Linley. He was 
now severed from his people, but his heart was with 
them, and he wrote them the following pastoral letter. 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 



113 



'Elmbank Terrace, Victoria Parade, 
' Melbourne, May 4th, 1869. 

( To the members of my congregation in Adelaide. 

c My dear Friends, 

' I am just now going on board the " Great 
Britain/' which is to sail at daylight to-morrow morn- 
ing for England. Before I do this, and almost the 
last act that I perform before I leave the residence of 
my friend and brother minister Mr Linley, I deem it 
my duty to write you an affectionate letter of farewell. 
I little expected last Sunday week, when I was an- 
nouncing to you the subject on which I should preach 
the following Sunday evening, that I should then be 
500 miles away from you, on my journey to our father- 
land ; but circumstances with which most of you are 
acquainted have rendered it necessary for me to start 
at once on a short visit to England. For nearly two 
years I have had this step in contemplation, but the 
very terrible suffering through which I was passing, 
and the difficulty of getting my pulpit supplied during 
my absence, for a long time prevented my taking it. 
The accident to my ankles having hindered me from 
leaving by the Adelaide early sailing ships, I had made 
up my mind to go overland in the course of a mail or 
two ; but last Monday week, when I learnt from my 
friend Mr Way that he was going by the " Great 
Britain," I also learnt that it would be exceedingly 
perilous on account of the great heat to attempt a 
voyage by the mail steamer until the summer was 
over, which of course would throw me into the Eng- 
lish winter, and therefore be far too late for me to 

8 



114 MEMOIE Or THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

venture. I saw at once that so far as this year was 
concerned, my voyage to England was a question of 
" now or never." I was slowly and steadily improv- 
ing in health. To start off to England at once would 
be to take the condition of my health upon the rising 
tide, and might set me up, and make me strong to 
labour in the Church for many years to come. To 
delay my departure till another return of my old bron- 
chitis might destroy my hope of restoration for ever. 
After therefore a momentary conference with two or 
three friends, in whose judgment I could confide, I re- 
solved to rush off to England without a momenta 
hesitation or delay. I had only 20 minutes at home 
to pack up and get away, but through mercy I have 
got thus far towards my destination, and hope by the 
continued good help of God to reach in safety the 
haven I desire. 

c May I ask for a special interest in all your prayers 
that my voyage may be a safe one, and my visit to 
England in every respect successful ? It is my inten- 
tion to send out, if possible, by the return trip of the 
" Great Britain," an able young man to take my place 
till I return. If I should by any possibility fail in 
this — of which, however, I have no fear — I hope to re- 
turn myself by the December mail. 

' I wish the time I have just now at command 
would admit of my giving you a few kindly pastoral 
counsels to guide you in my absence; but as I cannot 
do this, I would just say to the members of the Church, 
be particular to attend properly all the class-meetings, 
prayer-meetings, and other ordinances of the Church, 
and in this way your souls will be kept like the green 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 



115 



willows by the watercourses. And to the members of 
the general congregation, I would add, Give your- 
selves to prayer, and the word of salvation. Do not 
absent yourselves from your pews during my absence. 
Be in your seats whenever God's house is open, in 
order to encourage those who shall occupy my place. 
I commend especially to kindly consideration, and to 
your attendance at the Church services, my beloved 
young colleague, upon whom the greater part of the 
burden of my absence will fall. Hold up his hands, 
cheer his heart, and encourage him in every way you 
can, and so shall the blessing of our great Shepherd 
and Lord rest upon you.'' 

I regret to find that the remainder of this letter is 
missing. As it was sent to his congregation generally, 
it probably passed into many hands, and the conclud- 
ing portion was lost in transitu. 

In the early part of the voyage Mr Maughan im- 
proved in health, but while passing through the tropics 
he suffered much. He received every attention from 
his friend Mr Way, and as he came nearer to England 
his sufferings abated, and his health became improved. 
He arrived in Liverpool July 2, 1869, and now he 
once more inhaled the air of his native isle, and 
hoped soon to experience its restoring and invigorat- 
ing influence. But while anxious to obtain a restora- 
tion to health, he had equal anxiety for the prosperity 
of his Church, and no sooner had he landed than he 
wrote another pastoral letter, in which the reader will 
see how intensely solicitous his soul was for the con- 
tinued union and love, the prayerful and zealous efforts, 
of his people for the welfare of Zion, 



116 MEMOIR OP THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

' To my dear friends, the members of my Church and 
congregation in Franklin-street. 

' My deaely beloved Friends, 

( Since I last wrote to yon I have been the 
subject of many mercies. From a brief diary which 
I have kept, and which may be read to you, if you 
desire it, at the close of one of your week- evening 
services, you will find that we have had one of the 
swiftest and pleasantest voyages ever made from Mel- 
bourne to England. For the first 18 days I enjoyed 
wonderfully good health, excepting about two days, 
when I suffered from an influenza cold. After the 
first five days we got very fine fair winds, which car- 
ried us along at a beautiful rate, until we got round 
Cape Horn. The weather was much finer than we 
expected. It was raw and damp* with thermometer 
two or three degrees below freezing point, which 
made us bring out all our furs and warm clothing; 
but we had only a few showers of snow, and it hap- 
pened to be that favourable time .of the year when 
there was no ice to be seen in the neighbourhood of 
the " Horn." The damp air at Cape Horn began to 
affect me, but we soon got out of it, and I got nearly 
all right again, until we began to approach the tropics. 
I became very ill after entering the tropic of Capri- 
corn, and had a hard struggle to live for several days. 
With only occasional intermissions my luugs continued 
to be seriously affected, until we began to approach 
the English coast ; I became then as well as I was 
when I left Adelaide, and I have continued much 
about the same ever since. I think I am on the 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 



117 



whole a little better than I was for the last fortnight 
before I left the colony, but I have yet the English 
winter before me ; and my past experience teaches me 
not to be too sanguine until I see what the winter 
may produce. On arriving in England Mr Way, who 
was extremely kind to me during the whole of the 
voyage, accompanied me to the residence of our Mis- 
sionary Secretary, the Hev. Samuel Hulme. There 
we were delighted to learn that the Conference, which 
had only finished its sittings ten days before we ar- 
rived, had sent for Mr Herbert Fenton, a young and 
rising minister, and got his consent to start off to 
Adelaide to take my place for a short time, by the 
" Great Britain " after she arrived. They had little 
idea that the very ship which was expected to take 
Mr Fenton to Adelaide was at that moment bringing 
me to England. I had a Conference with Mr Fenton 
a few days after I landed, and heard him make an ex- 
temporaneous, but most interesting and suitable little 
speech at a ladies' congratulation tea-meeting. He is a 
young man, apparently of about 24 or 25 years of age. 
He was two years at Hanmoor College, and has since 
laboured for three years as a candidate for our minis- 
try. He spent one of these years in London, and is 
here highly spoken of by the friends. He is a very 
modest and unassuming young man, of a strong build 
and healthy appearance. He is an earnest preacher, 
and I am told a diligent pastor. He was greatly in- 
terested in the history I gave him of the Church in 
Adelaide. He is possessed in an eminent degree of 
Christian piety and good sense. I do not know 
another young man who could have been found in our 



118 MEMOIR OP THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



ministry so suitable and willing to come to Adelaide. 
I trust you will pray for him, that his labours may be 
made a blessing to you and to the city. Instead of 
coming by the " Great Britain/'' I have arranged for 
him to come by the " Yatala," which is one of the 
best and swiftest of our own ships. He will leave on 
the 29th of this month, and will reach Adelaide in 
about 76 or 78 days, if all goes well. There will be a 
saving of fifteen or twenty pounds by his coming 
direct, and he will arrive much about the same time 
as he would get round by the " Great Britain.'"' 

' My friends here are very anxious for me to get 
the best medical advice in London as to the present 
condition of my lungs and heart. Personally I do not 
need this, as I believe that our Adelaide medical profes- 
sion are perfectly reliable in these matters, and I have 
now, as I always have had, the most perfect confidence 
in the skill and judgment of my own medical attend- 
ant. Still, to satisfy my friends here, I have arranged 
with Mr W ay for him to accompany me to Dr Fuller 
of St George's Hospital in a few days, in order to get 
his report on my case. I am very sanguine that the 
report will be favourable to my being able yet for 
many years to fulfil the duties of a missionary in Aus- 
tralia. 

' The subject of a union between our own Denomin- 
ation and that of the Bible Christians has recently 
been largely discussed, and the union is now almost 
certain to be consummated ; but it will be, perhaps, a 
few years first. Mr Way, Dr Cooke, and myself go 
down to the Bible Christian Conference on the 26th 
of this month. After that I am, if able, to take a tour 



VISIT TO ENGLAND. 



119 



through, our principal Circuits, and to preach and 
speak on behalf of the Missionary Society. 

' I do not forget you either collectively or individ- 
ually in my personal supplications. May I ask for a 
continued interest in your prayers ? Let me still en- 
treat you to hold up the hands of my friend Mr Merri- 
man in his efforts to minister to your edification and 
to build up and extend the borders of the Church. 
Be in your places at the appointed times for the reli- 
gious services, be diligent in your attendance on prayer- 
meetings, class-meetings, and especially at the Lord's 
table. Think and speak kindly of each other, and 
pray for one another, forbearing one another and for- 
giving one another, as God for Christ's sake has for- 
given you. And may the God of peace, the Friend 
aud Father of us all, bless, sustain, and comfort you 
all in Adelaide and me in England, for Christ's sake, 
Amen. So prays your affectionate minister, 

( James Maughan.' 

When Mr Maughan's old friends first met him 
in England they were all deeply affected by the 
change which a few years had wrought upon him. In 
1862 he left us a hale vigorous man, and in seven 
short years he returned pallid, shattered, and white- 
headed; his step was feeble and tremulous, his 
breathing short, palpitating, and at times convulsive ; 
and though only 42 years of age, he had the appear- 
ance of a feeble old man of threescore. But amid 
these signs of dilapidation and decay, his spirit was 
as buoyant as ever, and his desire for labour as ardent 
as in the days of his vigorous youth. He at once 



120 MEMOIR OE THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

offered his services to the Missionary Committee, 
undertaking to preach once, and address the Sunday- 
scholars on each Sabbath, and to deliver a speech or 
a lecture at a public meeting once every week on 
behalf of the Mission. The Committee, wiser and 
more merciful than himself, found it necessary to 
restrict his labours, and to enact a positive prohibi- 
tion upon his engaging in various extra services which 
injudicious friends requested him to perform, and which 
in his excessive zeal he was too ready to undertake. 

Early in the month of August he visited his old 
friends in Bristol, who gave him a most hearty greeting, 
and he remained amongst them for several weeks, 
being kindly entertained by Mrs Ellis at Sneyd Park, 
and his warm-hearted friends Mr and Mrs Phillips of 
College Green. While here, he preached at Bath and 
Bristol ; and as he could not walk he took a cab at 
his own expense to visit every member of the Church 
at their own house, that he might encourage them in 
the Lord, and strengthen their attachment to His 
cause. At the anniversary of the Bristol chapel he 
rendered his assistance, and at the public meeting he 
inaugurated an effort to remove a troublesome Circuit 
debt, by starting a subscription, heading the list 
with a handsome donation from himself, and handing 
round papers to others, with a winning importunity 
that realized promises or gifts amounting to about £50. 

Mr Maughan received much attention and many 
marks of affection from his old friends both at Bristol 
and elsewhere ; but his soul was constantly anxious 
about the people of his special charge in Adelaide : he 
felt for them with the sympathy and tenderness of a 



VISIT TO ENGLAND. 



121 



father for his children, as will appear from the following 
letters. 

' Avon House, Sneyd Park, Clifton, Bristol, 
' August 12th, 1869. 

' To my beloved friends the members of the Church 
and congregation worshipping in our beautiful 
Adelaide church in Franklin-street. 

' My deae Feiends, 

c At this moment I have you every one in 
my eyes. I fancy I see you seated in your accustomed 
places, and I do not think there is one of the old seat- 
holders amongst you that I have not in my mind. 

' I am thankful to say that my health during the 
past month has, on the whole, been quite as good as 
it was before I sent my last letter to you. Since 
that time I have been very busily employed, and I 
think you will be pleased with a report of my proceed- 
ings. In the first place, let me say that, accompanied 
by my dear friend Mr Way and his brother, who is a 
medical student, I have visited two of the most emi- 
nent medical men in London. They both agree that 
the state of my health is sufficient to give rise to the 
most serious apprehension ; but they both affirm that 
it is possible even yet for me to be cured. I am now 
going through a course of altered diet and medicine 
at the hands of Dr Fuller, and if I do not find relief 
from his treatment I intend to try that of Dr Wilkes, 
the eminent physician of Guy's Hospital, so that I may 
have the satisfaction of feeling that I have done every- 
thing possible to get myself set right again. 

( In the second place, you will be glad to learn that 



122 



MEMOIR OP THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



I have got Mr Fenton, tlie able and earnest young 
man whom our Conference lias kindly sent to take my 
place for a short time, safely sent off by the " Yatala." 
This vessel did not sail till Saturday, August the 11th, 
which was five days later than she was advertised for, 
but I think you may reasonably expect her in about 
79 days from that time. He left in very excellent 
spirits. He is a young man with a warm heart. He 
is deeply pious, and bent upon the one great object of 
bringing souls to Christ. My heart filled as I bade 
him good-bye, and thought of the great work to which 
I was sending him, and of the kind friends, and my 
own loved ones amongst the rest, to whom he was 
going. I could scarcely mutter to him the customary 
parting words ; but the last sentence he uttered to 
me was, " By God's help you may depend upon me. 
Nothing shall be iv anting on my part to keep the friends 
together till your return. I go in the spirit of my 
Master to save souls, and do His work." Receive him 
kindly, help him heartily, and I am sure he will be 
made a blessing to you. He will begin to arrange for 
the anniversary services as soon as he arrives. He 
will also assist you in the coming bazaar. I trust he 
will find you all in the enjoyment of health and pros- 
perity. 

' In the third place, you will be glad to learn that 
I have been able to attend the Conference of the Bible 
Christians in Bristol. They received me very kindly, 
made me a member of the Conference, allowed me two 
or three times to speak at its sittings, and to address 
their public missionary meeting. I was much pleased 
w^th the great ability displayed, and the simple piety 



VISIT TO ENGLAND. 



123 



evinced by many of their ministers : it was really de- 
lightful to hear them. The amalgamation between 
them and us will, in all probability, be effected in 
about two years from the present time. Both parties 
have agreed on the general principles, and only a little 
time to arrange the details is required on each side. 
These, I think, are the principal things to which it is 
necessary for me to refer. I may, however, farther 
say that I have now commenced preaching once each 
Sunday on behalf of our Missionary Society in differ- 
ent parts of the Connexion, and to give one lecture in 
the week on " Australia." I sincerely trust that you 
are all living near to the great Fountain, and pressing 
on to the glorious immortality. Be diligent in your 
attendance on the Church ordinances, and so live as 
that we may all at the last be found perfected before 
God's throne. 

'I am, my dear friends, very affectionately, your 
old minister, < James Maughan.' 

Before a month had expired Mr Maughan wrote 
again to the dear friends and members of his Church 
and congregation. 

'Bristol, September 10th, 1869. 

'My deae Feiends, 

' As the mail for Adelaide leaves again at 
two o'clock this afternoon, I take my pen to address 
you once more. Since I last wrote you my health has 
been much as it was before the last mail left. I have 
been well enough to preach once each Sunday, and on 
two occasions twice, besides lecturing once during 
each week. But I find this quite as much as I can do 



124 MEMOIE OP THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

without injury to myself. On the first Sunday after 
the last mail I preached twice in the old city of Bath, 
and gave a lecture in Bristol on the following Monday 
evening on Australia as a field of religious and 
missionary enterprise. On the following Sunday I and 
Dr Cooke preached the anniversary sermons of our 
beautiful church in Forest Hill near the Crystal 
Palace, and both attended the tea-meeting on the 
Monday. On the third Sunday I preached missionary 
sermons in Britannia Fields Chapel in London and 
lectured on <e Australia " on the Monday night, giving 
the friends a lengthened account of our rise and 
progress in Adelaide, and not forgetting to speak to 
them of all your assistance and kindness to myself. 
Last Sunday I preached twice in a large town hall 
taken for the purpose at Brierley Hill in the Dudley 
Circuit, and next Sunday and two following days I 
and Mr Innocent (who has just returned on a temporary 
visit from China) have to conduct missionary services 
in our two largest churches in the Staffordshire 
Potteries. It is not my intention to preach twice on 
the Sabbath again during my stay here, as it is rest I 
have come to seek. 

' Since I wrote you before I have seen Dr Fuller, 
my medical adviser, again. He tells me he does not 
think that my disease is caused by the South Austra- 
lian climate. If it were, I should have broken down 
before the end of three or four years. He is of 
opinion that over-work and my former unsuitable 
residence have been the cause of my illness. He takes 
a hopeful view of my case, and thinks I may yet be 
able to do a large amount of work. I am carefully 



VISIT TO ENGLAND. 



125 



following his prescription, though I have not yet found 
much benefit from doing so. I am happy to say that 
I am now able to walk much farther than I was able 
to do in Adelaide for two or three years past. 

' I trust that by the time this letter reaches you 
Mr Fenton will have nearly arrived. As you will find 
him to be a young man of great energy, I trust you 
will do all you can to encourage and help him. As I 
feel that I can safely intrust the Church to his care, 
it is now my intention to stay here over the winter, 
and to get put right, if possible, for resuming my 
labours amongst you. Our Missionary Committee 
here have arranged for Mr Innocent and myself to 
visit the principal Churches in England in connection 
with our Missionary anniversaries. Our work has 
been already fixed for every Sabbath up to Christmas. 
I sincerely trust you are all caring for the " one thing 
needful." Need I remind you of the wise words of 
the Great Saviour, " Seek first the kingdom of God 
and His righteousness ? " To do this, make your 
religious duties the first objects of your lives. Live 
to prosper by living for God and His Church. Strive 
to be useful, and you will all be sure to be happy. 

' To those of you who are Christ's followers let me 
say, " Be in earnest." Leave nothing in the Church 
to be done by others that you can do yourselves. It 
is a Divine command, " Let no man take thy crown." 
No real Christian can be indifferent to the prosperity 
of the Church, and every Christian ought to live and 
work as though the salvation of the world depended on 
him alone. As in a workshop every man is expected 
to be at his post at six o'clock in the morning, so in 



126 



MEMOIR OP THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



the Church every man's duty should be his delight. 
Forgive my uttering these counsels, for you know 
that my heart still beats in unison with your own. 
In fact, I can scarcely realize that I am not still amongst 
you. When I am sitting at the tables of my old 
friends, or* riding through the green fields of Eng- 
land, it seems to me as though it were all a dream. I 
feel concerning Adelaide the truth of what our Divine 
Master said, " Where your treasure is, there your heart 
will be also." 

f To those of you who are still " halting between 
two opinions/' let my entreating voice from fourteen 
thousand miles away fall upon your ears. Be wise. 
Live as you desire to be found when you die. Don't 
so act in this life as to have to spend eternity in vain 
and fruitless regrets. Seek fellowship with Christian 
men, and make life on earth the stepping-stone to 
heaven. Pray without ceasing, and may Heaven's 
richest blessing descend on you all. 

' Your sincere friend and minister, 

' James Maughan.' 

He sent a third letter, dated Sept. 29th, 1869 : 
e To the members of my Church and congregation in 
Adelaide. To be read at a special meeting to be 
called after the Sunday evening service. 
'My dear Friends, 

' By the time you receive this letter I trust 
that Mr Fenton will have arrived amongst you. I find 
the friends here speak most highly of him. Wherever 
he has laboured he has been greatly esteemed. He 
is in robust health both of body and mind. He comes 



VISIT TO ENGLAND. 



127 



to you full of faith and energy. He has told all his 
friends here that he is determined, by the blessing of 
God, to succeed. If, therefore, you receive him kindly 
and hold up his hands by praying for him, attending 
all his services and working with him, I have not the 
slightest doubt of his being made a great blessing 
both to the Church and to yourselves. 

' I am sorry to have to inform you that I have not 
been so well during the past month. Just before I 
wrote you my last letter I caught an influenza cold, 
which as usual settled on my lungs. For several days 
I was entirely laid up. During the whole month I 
have suffered considerably, but now I am thankful to 
say that I am a little better. Mr Innocent, who has 
been labouring for ten years with so much success as 
a missionary in China, returned for the benefit of his 
health a few weeks after my arrival here. During the 
past month he and I have been attending missionary 
services together in different parts of the country. 
On the 12th we were to preach, and on the 13th and 
14th of this month attend meetings at Longton and 
Hanley. I was too ill to take the services on the two 
first dates, but on the 14th I managed to get to 
Hanley. The church there is the largest we have in 
the Connexion. It was very full, nearly 2000 people 
present, and the friends were very greatly pleased 
to see and hear Mr Innocent and myself once more. 
The collections were £58 18s. 6d., or more than double 
the amount of the preceding year. 

' On the following Sunday I lectured in the after- 
noon to about 500 Sunday scholars in Bolton, near 
Manchester, and preached in the evening. The 



128 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

weather was very wet, but there was a large con- 
gregation. On the following evening we attended the 
Bolton annual missionary meeting. On the Tuesday 
evening we attended a meeting at Mossley, and on 
Wednesday evening another at Lees. There were 
large attendances at all the places notwithstanding the 
wetness of the weather ; and in every case the collec- 
tions for the Mission were double the amounts of pre- 
ceding years. I found these services to be somewhat 
trying to me in my present state of health. I was 
therefore obliged to take a week's rest immediately 
after them ; and as my medical attendants had ordered 
me to try a more southerly climate, I spent a few days 
upon the south coast. I also took a run over to Paris, 
where I made some interesting and, I trust, profitable 
purchases for our forthcoming bazaar. 

' Last Friday I reached the residence of my friend 
Mr J. B. Prockter of Gateshead. Here I am being 
most hospitably entertained during my stay in the 
north. On Sunday morning I preached to a very 
large congregation at Salem Chapel in Newcastle. 
Many of my old friends came in from great distances 
to hear the word. In the evening I preached at Wall- 
send. I could not refuse this extra service, as Wall- 
send was the place of my earliest boyhood. But I 
was far from fit to preach twice on the same day. On 
Monday night we had a crowded missionary meeting 
in Newcastle, and last night we had a similar meeting 
at Wallsend. In every case we have had excellent 
meetings, and in each case the collections have been 
more than double the amount of the preceding year. 
' Next Sunday we preach and attend meetings in 



VISIT TO ENGLAND. 



129 



the Gateshead Circuit, after which we visit Leeds, 
Sheffield, Manchester, Dudley, Birmingham, and other 
circuits. We have already every Sunday engaged 
from the present time until Christmas, and the number 
of applications for services after Christmas, and for 
which at present I refuse to make any definite 
engagements, is something almost appalling. 

' As I do not yet know how I shall be able to stand 
the winter, I find it would not be prudent for me to 
make any engagements beyond Christmas. Mr Hulme 
and the Missionary Committee insist that I should 
rest as much as possible. But for the unfortunate 
influenza to which I have referred, I believe I should 
have been even better by this time than I was when 
I last wrote you. Still, we must bow to the Provi- 
dential dispensations of our Great and Loving Father. 
His ways are not our ways, and it is very much better 
for us that they are not. 

' "What a very Babel of confusion our world would 
become if every man had the ordering of his own 
concerns ! We should be blindly blundering and 
perversely quarrelling at every step. How much 
better it is to know that we are in the hands of an 
All-comprehending and an All-powerful God : one 
who, while He sees everything we need, can subor- 
dinate everything to our good. Nothing can be 
more consolatory than for us to know that all our 
ways are " ordered of the Lord" and that though we 
may be led through dark and perplexing paths, yet 
we are being surely led to heaven. It is only as we 
believe in the doctrine of an over-ruling Providence 

that we can sing with the sainted John Newton — 

9 



130 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

" Since all that I meet 

Shall work for my good. 
The bitter is sweet, 

The med'cine is food : 
Though painful at present, 

'Twill cease before long, 
And then, oh how pleasant 

The conqueror's song." 

And it is only as we are able to sing this that we are 
able to bear up with philosophic firmness in the midst 
of suffering and trial. 

' But I must bring my letter to a conclusion. I 
trust that you have got all your arrangements com- 
pleted for a very successful anniversary. It will give 
me great pleasure to learn that you have not come 
short of former years, and I shall not be surprised to 
learn that you have exceeded in my absence all that 
has ever been done before. I have always told you 
that God's Church was not dependent on any indi- 
vidual, but that God could carry on His own work 
even after I was carried up to heaven. I shall be with 
you in spirit both at your anniversary sermons and at 
your tea-meeting. I shall select two Sabbaths, and 
then shall be almost sure to be right. If I should be 
well enough I shall just be about finishing my 
breakfast in the morning when your evening meeting 
is being opened. Eest assured that, guided by past 
experience, I shall be following you through every 
part of the meeting, even to the collection, and shall 
be praying for the Great Head of the Church to bless 
you. I do not fail to tell our English friends of your 
great liberality to the cause, and of your great personal 
kindness to myself and family ; and I may venture 



VISIT TO ENGLAND. 



131 



further to add that I believe my visit here, by the 
Divine blessing, is likely to prove of great importance 
and advantage to our cause in Australia. We must 
have at least £1000 paid off from the debt of the 
church. I have not been able yet to see the members 
of our Committee together ; but if you can raise, by a 
great effort, say six or seven hundred pounds in Adelaide, 
I have no doubt but that I shall be able to get for you 
the remainder. Confer amongst yourselves on this 
matter, and if you can see your way clear to raise, by a 
very great effort, say £650, you had better pass a 
resolution to that effect, and apply to me in a formal 
way to get you a grant of say £350. I greatly regret 
that I have not a better account to give you of my 
state of health by the present mail ; but you may rest 
assured that so long as I live I shall not fail to care 
and pray for you. 

' I am, my own very dear friends, your affectionate 
but invalided minister, 

' James Maugham.' 

In these letters Mr Maughan feelingly alludes to a 
subject intensely interesting to himself and to all 
large-hearted men, especially those whose views and 
sympathies are expanded by travel and missionary 
labours — the subject of Christian union. Friendly 
overtures had been made by our Conferences and com- 
mittees in 1867-8, and accepted by the Bible Chris- 
tians ; and in 1869 it was regarded as probable that 
the bodies would be united. Deputations from each 
body were sent and accepted at the Conferences of 
1869-70; but unhappily the proposed union failed as 



132 MEMOIR OP THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

an immediate event, though with the continuance of 
mutual affection and esteem. 

This and other unions, however, between the 
several Churches of Methodism can only be a question 
of time» The affinity is too close, and the bonds of 
affection and mutual interest too strong, to admit of 
their being kept asunder much longer. Moreover, 
union is the tendency of the age, and the combined 
power of the outside forces of antagonism are acceler- 
ating its consummation. Several bodies of Christians 
have become united, and enjoy the blessedness of 
more intimate fellowship and augmented strength. 
Other Churches are yearning for it, and their prayers 
and tears are as holy incense before God; they blend 
with the availing intercession of Him who laid down 
His life for the Church, and among whose last plead- 
ings we find the prayer for the unity of His people. 
Friends of union, pray on, ye shall not pray in vain/ 
Lovers of the Saviour, cherish and manifest towards 
one another all the tender sympathies and fraternal 
affection of your filial relation to God ; and hold your- 
selves ready for those interpositions, which the good 
providence of God is sure to make for gathering His 
scattered sheep into the closest bonds, and rendering 
His people one with each other, even as the Father 
and Son and Spirit are one. 

Mr Maughan continued to labour in advocating 
the missions by preaching and speaking on public 
occasions, when he was kindly entertained by numerous 
friends in various parts of the Connexion. But when 
winter had fully set in, the paroxysms arising from 
his heart affection became so frequent, and withal so 



VISIT TO ENGLAND. 133 

serious, that the Missionary Committee declined even 
to accept the services he was still willing to render, 
and he was advised to rest altogether as the only 
means of preserving his life. At this time he re- 
turned to London, and remained for many weeks to- 
gether under the hospitable roof of his warm-hearted 
friends, Mr and Mrs Whitworth, who rendered him 
every possible service which his broken health re- 
quired. During this period the writer had frequent 
interviews with him, and saw him at times labouring 
for breath with almost convulsive efforts, as if every 
moment would be his last. In this state he sometimes 
continued for hours, until friends around could not 
look upon him without alarm. It was a grievous dis- 
appointment to become worse instead of better in 
health by the change of climate and of scene ; and it 
was a trying dispensation thus to suffer at a distance 
of 16,000 miles from home ; but he never uttered a 
murmuring word. Nor did he seem to have the least 
fear even in anticipation of a fatal issue. He calmly 
trusted in God, and confided in His wisdom and love. 

With the returning spring he rallied once more, 
and even recommenced his labours to a limited extent. 
He attended the ensuing Conference at Sheffield, and 
was present at most of its sittings, but took little part 
in its proceedings. The Rev. John Innocent, another 
brother beloved, who after labouring about nine 
years as a missionary in China, had arrived in England 
about the same time as Mr Maughan, on account of 
the state of his health, and who had rendered valuable 
service to the Mission during the year, attended the 
Conference also. Both these brethren were heartily 



134 MEMOIR OE THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

welcomed by the Conference, and the following reso- 
lution was passed. 

' That the Conference welcomes the Rev. J- 
Maughan and the Rev. J. Innocent on their return to 
England with fraternal affection, after Mr Innocent's 
absence of ten years in China, and Mr Maughan - ' s 
absence of eight years in Australia. 3 The Conference 
records, as on many former occasions it has already 
done, its grateful joy in the honour God has bestowed 
upon both our brethren in the success which has 
attended their labours, the reports of which received 
from time to time stimulated the songs of our Zion, 
and added fervour to our prayers. The Conference is 
grateful to the Giver and Preserver of life that the 
health of our brethren has been so much improved by 
their voyages and visit to their fatherland, as to justify 
their early return to their spheres of labour. The 
public services of our brethren in the pulpit and on 
the platform, as well as their private intercourse, have 
been a spiritual festival to our Churches, and have 
tended in various ways to quicken their missionary 
zeal into a more intense glow, and to draw forth their 
liberality in a larger measure. With their cordial 
assent the Conference again sends them forth as " the 
messengers of the Churches and the glory of Christ," 
assuring them of its highest confidence and love, and 
fervently praying that when they leave our shores 
their voyages may be safe and prosperous, that their 
lives may be long spared, and their labours rendered 
yet more successful in turning men from darkness to 
light, and from the power of Satan unto God/ 

1 This period includes the time of their voyages, and their 
public services in England. 



135 



CHAPTER XI. 

ME MAUGHAN'S EETUEN TO ADELAIDE, 1870. 

Me Maughan, though grievously disappointed by 
the failure of the projected union, was much refreshed 
by his intercourse with the ministers and friends, and 
greatly delighted with the services of the Conference. 
Painful experience had convinced him that he could not 
live in the damp and changeable atmosphere of Eng- 
land, and he now began to prepare for returning to 
his adopted country. He spent a short time with his 
friend Mr Hannay in Dudley, and then came to Lon- 
don to make some purchases for his voyage, during 
which he was again entertained by his generous 
friends, Mr and Mrs Whitworth, whose house for its 
hospitality may be justly termed 'The Pilgrims' Home.' 
But as the vessel, the ' Yatala/ had to call at Ply- 
mouth, Mr Maughan preferred to go on board at that 
port, in order to enjoy a day or two more of the society 
of his friends. He therefore repaired to Bristol, which 
lay partly in his route, and was kindly received a?nd 
entertained by his devoted friends, Mr and Mrs Phil- 
lips. He preached in our chapel on Sunday, August 7, 



136 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



and after the public service administered the Lord's 
supper. This was his last service in England. 

On Tuesday, August 9, Mr Maughan left Bristol 
to meet the 'Yatala' at Plymouth. In commencing 
his diary of the voyage he thus speaks of his latest 
hours in England, and his embarkation for Australia. 

f Tuesday, August 9th. Got all packed up and 
ready to start from Mr Phillips' by one o'clock. Had 
a quiet but capital dinner (my last in England) with Mr 
and Mrs Phillips and Miss Geach. Mr Phillips kindly 
got the cab laden early, so that we all started about 2 
p. m. for the Railway station. There I met some dear 
old friends, — Mr Edbrook, Mr Paddon, Mrs Downes, 
Miss Paddons, &c. After waiting 20 minutes, had a long 
s ' good-bye " to venerable old Bristol, my dear friends 
Mr and Mrs Phillips, and the other beloved friends; 
and with Milton by my side we were whisked away en 
route for the good ship " Yatala/' which was at that 
moment entering the Plymouth Sound. Had a fine 
view of Clifton Bridge, saw Clevedon and Weston as 
we passed, but was especially struck with Taunton 
and its beautiful church spire. Stayed a few minutes 
at the station of fine old Exeter, and had just time to 
recognize Mr Bourne, the excellent editor of the " Bible 
Christian Magazine," and to inquire after the progress 
of the union at their Conference. The day was charm- 
ing, and we enjoyed the ride down the Devonshire 
coast, as through the many watering-places we passed. 
There was a great crowd at the Plymouth station, and 
we had much difficulty in securing our luggage. 
From the station we drove to the Shipping Agent's 
office, where we deposited our luggage, learnt that 



KETUKN TO ADELAIDE. 



137 



the ship had arrived from London several hours before 
us, and were directed to suitable lodgings. After tea 
Miss Geach, who had come with us to look after the 
luggage and fit up our cabin, and in the place of her 
uncle to see us fairly " off/' took Milton to see the 
ships in the " Hoe/' and I was left to write up my 
letters for the Australian mail. On the following 
morning Milton went through the Devonport dock- 
yard, and was greatly delighted with everything he 
saw. After returning from the dockyard they went 
to the Railway station, and brought away a dray load 
of " sent on" luggage. This was taken to the Ship- 
ping Office, a boat was engaged for 14s., and the whole 
luggage was put into it to be taken to the ship. 

f At two o' clock, having finished my letters, we 
started for the " Yatala," and reached her after half- 
an-hour's sail. On opening our cabin door to com- 
mence the fitting-up I found the three boxes and bale 
of cabin furnishings which I had sent to London had 
not been put on board. Here was a pickle ! My 
friends had been toiling night and day for a month 
past to provide me with everything which the con- 
dition of my health required, or which their kindness 
or my own experience could suggest. In hot weather, 
in cold, in health or in sickness, everything which 
could reasonably be needed by me in a three months' 
voyage had been forwarded to the ship's steward a 
week before, yet nothing had been delivered. Fortu- 
nately we found in the cabin two mattresses with a 
parcel from our dear friend Mr Whitworth, containing 
two blankets and a rug. These, with a dozen towels, 
a dozen pillow-cases, and a couple of chairs, will have 



138 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



to make up tlie whole of our cabin furniture and 
bedding until we get to Adelaide. Fortunately the ♦ 
weather will be warm duriug the first half of the 
voyage, and if I can only keep as well as I feel on 
embarking, I care nothing for the inconvenience or 
discomfort. Under any circumstances repining would 
be useless. We must therefore summon all the philo- 
sophies to our assistance, and make the best of our 
unfortunate circumstances. After a three seconds' bite 
of the lip, which physiognomists say is the symbol of 
mortification, we began to arrange our beds and 
boxes. On finishing I confess to a feeling of discon- 
solateness. I see the room without a piece of carpet, 
and without a brush or comb-bag, or a looking-glass, 
and the beds with no pillows, and no covering but the 
blankets and the rug, and to think after all our trouble 
of having to live for three months in that way, burning 
in the tropics, and freezing in the Southern Ocean, 
and myself during much of that time literally strug- 
gling for existence, was to experience feelings any- 
thing but elevating in their character. At five o'clock 
Miss Geach left the ship in a state of great exaspera- 
tion with all and sundry railway carriers, intending to 
catch the midnight train to Bristol, and to make in- 
quiries after the lost luggage. At six o'clock I sat 
down to finish my letters to English friends, and to 
close my Australian mail. At one o'clock next morn- 
ing we weighed anchor, at two I finished my letters 
for the pilot, and delivered them. We had then got 
all sail set and the ship under weigh, I crept under 
my blanket after commending myself and mine to God, 
and thus " turned in " for the night.' 



RETURN TO ADELAIDE. 



139 



When on board Mr Maughan wrote the following 
epistle to the author of this volume, in which we per- 
ceive the sentiments he cherished towards his brethren 
and friends in England, and the spirit in which he 
returned to the scene of his labours. 

< Plymouth Sound, Aug. 20, 1870. 

c Mv dear Brother, 

i Forgive my delay in writing you. With 
capital health, which continues till this moment, but 
with limited strength, I have been engaged without 
intermission for the last three weeks for the close of, 
what will probably be, my last visit to the fine old 
country of my birth and education. Without an 
almost miraculous change in my physical condition I 
have no hope that I shall ever dare to encounter 
another English winter ; but I thank God that I 
return to the country of my adoption with better 
health (so I at present believe) than I left it. I 
now feel so much better, that if I get home as well as 
I at present am, I hope I shall yet be able to do 
several years of hard work for Christ and the Con- 
nexion we love. 

' I have a very grateful recollection of the kindness 
I have received from all the friends with whom I have 
come in contact. To Mr Hulme, to yourself and Mrs 
Cooke, and to my dear friends, Mr and Mrs Whitworth 
of London, Mr and Mrs Hannay of Dudley, and, 
besides many other friends, last, but far from least, to 
my very dear friends Mr and Mrs Phillips of Bristol, I 
shall feel indebted as long as I live. From the whole 
Connexion I have received kindnesses which make me 



140 MEMOIR OP THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



feel proud of the honour of being one of its mission- 
aries. I only hope that God will give me a few years 
more of continued health, that I may prove myself 
increasingly worthy of the kindness and confidence I 
have experienced. If such may be, I shall toil in the 
future, possibly with greater discretion, but with not 
less solicitude for success. God never intended me 
to eat the bread of idleness. With normal health I 
can work cheerfully, or die hopefully ; but I cannot 
sit idly. 

'We are just starting on our voyage of 78 long 
days. To the pilot I shall be indebted for the postage 
of this letter. We have a fine ship, she is in fine trim. 
With God's blessing we hope to have a fine voyage ; 
but whatever may happen, I have faith in God. 
Whether we trip along or touch the bottom it will be 
all right. The " dangers of the deep " have no terrors 
for me. I have as much faith in my Great Father on 
the sea as on dry land. Here, as there, He rules 
alike. The only difference is in the sickness ; but I 
would rather be sea-sick for a few days in doing God's 
work than home-sick all my life. 

'I have greatly enjoyed the few opportunities I 
have had of discussing Church politics. I long to see 
two things amongst us — first, that we should have 
an increasiugly soul-saving ministry; and second, that 
we should soon see effected our union with the Bible 
Christians. For that union, till its consummation, I 
shall never cease to work and pray. Present my kind 
love to all the members of your dear family. Pray 
for us, and ask your friends and the Connexion gen- 
erally, to pray for us, that our voyage may be short 



RETUKN TO ADELAIDE. 



141 



and prosperous. Write me often. Your kind letters 
cheer our hearts, and make our hands strong. I 
promise to reciprocate. 

' I am, my dear sir, yours most affectionately, 

' James Maughan.-' 

During part of the voyage home, especially while 
passing through the tropics, Mr Maughan' s sufferings 
were very heavy, and at times it was thought he must 
expire. But his son was with him to soothe and com- 
fort him ; and as he advanced into the temperate zone 
his sufferings abated, and as he neared the land of his 
adopted home he became again hopeful of being able 
to resume his labours, at least in part. So soon as the 
vessel was sighted and officially reported, his devoted 
wife hastened to port and took a boat to meet him a 
number of miles out at sea. The meeting was one of 
mutual gratitude and joyous praise to God for His 
preserving care. On landing at Adelaide the faithful, 
affectionate, and laborious pastor was heartily greeted 
by his Church and congregation, as well as by a large 
circle of the general public. 

It was now a question, not with himself, but with 
his medical advisers and friends, whether he should re- 
sume his duties as a minister, or take entire rest for a 
considerable period, so as to allow nature to exert her 
recuperative power. His medical attendants, after a 
careful examination, were of one mind that if he would 
abstain from all labour requiring mental and physical 
exertion, and live for a time in quietude and retire- 
ment, it was not impossible he might survive for some 
years, and be of future service to the Church of God ; 



142 MEMOIR OP THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



but that the resumption of exertions like those he had 
been wont to put forth would undoubtedly cause his 
life to be of very short duration. He heard their testi- 
mony with respect, and appreciated their motives; 
but he was conscious of improved health at present : 
he saw that the state of the Church required his per- 
sonal efforts, and he resolved to give them at all 
hazard. In his view it was better to die in his work 
than to linger in enforced indolence. His own feel- 
ings on this question are expressed in a letter, written 
shortly after his arrival, to his friend Mr Phillips of 
Bristol. After commending their newly -appointed 
minister to their warm affections and cordial co-ojoera- 
tion, he says, in his own characteristic style, ' Tell 
him to swing at it, and go ahead. People blame me 
for killing myself, but I would rather it were written, 
" He killed himself in God's service " than " He died 
in idleness." Besides, why should not people die 
through their exertions in God's cause ? Men die 
through their toils and exposures in mechanical 
labours, in commercial enterprises, and on the field of 
battle ! I believe in success. With me the motto is, 
Conquer or die/ While this language evinces a soul 
and body consuming zeal, it betrays, it must be ad- 
mitted, too little regard for his health and the profes- 
sional counsel of his friends. Yet at a time when 
there are in the Church so many drones and so few 
hard workers, he may well be forgiven if he loved the 
Church of God more than his family, and his work 
more than his life. There is One of high authority 
who hath said, f He that loveth father or mother more 
than Me is not worthy of Me : and he that loveth son 



EETUEN TO ADELAIDE. 



143 



or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. . . . 
He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth 
his life for My sake shall find it/ Mr Maughan 
lived in accordance with the principle of this Divine 
utterance, though he mistook its application. 

Mr Maughan resumed his ministerial and pastoral 
work with characteristic ardour and energy,, and both 
Church and congregation felt his quickening influence, 
and in all departments there was a return of former 
unity and activity. Nor was this all, — he unwisely 
added extra labour to his ordinary duties. He lived 
only five months after his return to the colony, and 
yet he performed work enough to occupy a period 
of twelve. He preached and lectured on special 
subjects, such as ' The ancient and modern pulpit ; 9 
1 Mercies multiplied by millions ; 9 ' The unfairness 
of some modern methods of estimating the character 
of Christ ; 9 ' Modern rationalism and ancient miracles.'' 
lie took part also in missionary and school anniver- 
saries ; he preached and lectured at Hope Valley, 10 
miles distant from Adelaide ; he revived his Literary 
and Philosophical Society ; he delivered a lecture on 
England ; took part in a meeting held for chemical 
analysis ; prepared a paper to be read at Prince 
Alfred's College ; by special request examined, in 
the sciences of astronomy and optics, the students of 
the same college. Labours these certainly unsuited to 
the condition of a dying man, and enough or more 
than enough for a man in the full vigour of life. 

In one of the above lectures Mr Maughan felt it 
his duty to animadvert on a work entitled, ' The Jesus 
of History.' This work was written anonymously by a 



144 MEMOIE OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



gentleman well known and much esteemed by Mr 
Manghan as a conspicuous and influential resident in 
Adelaide,, who during a recent visit to England had 
been knighted by her Majesty the Queen. Mr Maughan, 
therefore, felt it necessary as an act of courtesy before 
delivering his lecture to apprise the author of his in- 
tention, and to explain the reasons which had induced 
him to resolve upon introducing that topic to a public 
congregation. The following is the letter he wrote. 

' Whitmore Square, Dec. 2nd, 1870. 

< Sie E. D. H , 

'My dear Sie, 

' I was very sorry that a severe attack of 
bronchitis while in London prevented my calling on 
you there to congratulate you on the well-earned honour 
which her Majesty the Queen had but a short time 
before been pleased to confer on you. Allow me now 
to do myself the pleasure of expressing my congratula- 
tions. 

f My special object in now writing is just to ex- 
plain that having undertaken a course of Sunday 
evening sermons on some of the popular questions of 
the present time, I am just overtaking the " Kenan/' 
" Ecce Homo," and " Jesus of History " questions. 
I have read the latter book with great interest, not 
only on account of its real literary merit, but also 
because of my knowledge of and very great respect 
for its reputed author. 

' I have announced myself on Sunday evening to 
take exception to the stand point, " Of a Roman who 
happened to have heard of PauPs being sent as a 



RETUEN TO ADELAIDE. 



145 



prisoner to Kome," &c, and I shall probably take 
exception to some of the views obtained from that 
standpoint on two or three subsequent Sunday- 
evenings. 

' I am venturing to say of the selected standpoint 
that I think it is — 

f I. Unphilosophical. 

f II. Unfair. 

'III. Impracticable. 

c Unphilosophical, because with all the results before 
us, it is going the farthest way round to reach the 
conclusion; unfair, because if the authorship of the 
u Jesus of History 33 were tested in that way, it could 
be made all but certain that it could not have been 
written by the Chief Justice of South Australia ; and 
impracticable, because it is impossible for any man now 
to put himself in the position of the ancient Eoman. 
Without his character, temperament, education, asso- 
ciation, prejudices, and habits of religious thought, 
the assumed position would be a mere " Will-o'-the- 
wisp." To deal fairly in estimating the " Jesus of 
History 33 it seems to me that, instead of assuming the 
sceptical or negative condition of mind, we are bound 
to take the character of Jesus as it now appears, and 
is now accepted ; and with minds favourably prepared 
by the prima facie evidence, to ask if this character 
can be reasonably and fairly sustained ? 

c I shall treat the book as anonymous on Sunday 
evening, but as having a well-known author. I shall 
speak of the author in terms of great respect, and shall 
deal without acrimony, and in the spirit of real fair- 
ness with the argument. 

10 



146 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. JAMES MATT GH AN. 

' I do not write this to evoke a reply, but to dis- 
avow if not to prevent the appearance of personal 
discourtesy to one of whose hospitality I have often 
partaken, and from whom I have experienced other acts 
of kindness. Without this explanation my announce- 
ment for Sunday evening would have appeared even 
to myself to be towards you unfriendly, if not rude. 
' I am, my dear Sir Richard, yours truly, 

' James Maughan.' 

The lectures were delivered, the duty was faithfully 
discharged, but no offence was taken at the preacher's 
fidelity, as we find shortly afterwards the Hon. Sir 
R. D. H. among the numerous friends who wrote 
to Mrs Maughan letters of condolence and sympathy 
under her painful bereavement, accompanied with the 
highest testimonies of the worth and usefulness of her 
departed husband. 



147 



CHAPTER XII. 

MR MAUGHAN'S LAST HOURS, AND THE FUNERAL SERVICE. 

We are now approaching the end of Mr Maughan's 
laborious life. His earnestness for the salvation of 
souls became intensified as he drew nearer and nearer 
the close of his laborious life. In a conversation with 
his wife, he said, ' Since my return from England I 
have felt impressed with the necessity of speaking to 
the people with greater earnestness than I remember 
to have done at any former period of my life, being de- 
termined to be clear of the blood of their souls.' Mrs 
Maughan, in bearing testimony to this, observed in a 
letter to the author, e How true this statement was 
you may judge from the fact that having turned the 
Wednesday evening preaching service into a prayer- 
meeting, it was his custom to go round to the people, 
to plead personally with them on the necessity of an 
immediate decision for God, or to direct the penitent 
to Jesus ; and in many cases he would remain with the 
members and congregation two hours together in this 
duty, while I was waiting outside with the horse and 
trap to convey him home. On such occasions he 



148 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

would say as he came out of the meeting, u I am very- 
sorry, my dear, to have kept you waiting, but I felt 
it was now or never with some in the meeting, and I 
was determined not to leave until they solemnly 
promised to be the Lord's ; and now my soul is clear 
of their blood." 3 

In the month of January the conviction grew upon 
him that his disease was incurable, and his days were 
numbered. He admitted this in conversation with 
his wife, and became intensely anxious that her 
health, which was then very delicate, should become 
invigorated, lest they both should be taken away, 
and their four young children left utterly desolate. 
His sorrowing wife, writing to the author of this 
volume soon after the demise of her devoted husband, 
refers to his concern for her future, and narrates 
with touching pathos the final scene. She writes 
thus : — 

' Whitmore Square, Adelaide Street, 
March 27th, 1871. 

' My dear Sir, 

' Your loving and affectionate counsels came 
to hand on the seventh day after my beloved husband 
had entered into rest. 

' Regrets in any form are useless. God ordered, 
he with love and submission obeyed. A death more 
peaceful could not have been vouchsafed to him. 

About the middle of January last he began to be 
alarmed that my health was breaking down, and in- 
sisted on my going away from home for a week. I 
resisted strongly, pleading that I did not need it, 



ME MAUGHAN's LAST HOURS. 



149 



that I could not be spared, and that I did not like 
going away while he remained behind. His mind was, 
however, so fully set upon it that I yielded. 

c He said one morning, " Now listen to me. It is 
very evident we cannot both live. I have organic 
disease ; at present you have none. I must die sooner 
or later from the disease ; do go away from home and 
recruit your strength, and let not the children be left 
without us both. If you do not, you cannot stand up 
much longer, and what then must be done with the 
children ? I am pretty well now, I can do without 
you ; but it will not last long, and when I am ill I can- 
not spare you, I cannot do without you." 

' I felt, reluctant as I was, it must be done, and 
accordingly I went away with one of our friends for a 
week into the country. 

4 On Sunday, Feb. 5th, he took the morning serv- 
ice. Mr Smith, knowing I was away, kindly invited 
Mr Maughan and Mr Fenton to his house to dinner, 
bringing his conveyance to the church to save my 
husband from walking down. 

' Unfortunately Milton had that morning got a 
cold in his face ; his father had lanced his gums, and 
Milton asked to stay at home. It was a very warm 
morning, and my husband walked down without his 
overcoat or scarf, not needing them ; the other chil- 
dren and Mary had preceded him on the way to 
church. Consequently when he rode with Mr Smith, 
he felt chilled, and suffered from an acute attack of 
congestion during the whole afternoon. In the even- 
ing Mr Smith brought him home. 

' I returned home on the Monday, and on his first 



150 



MEMOIR OP THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



speaking, I felt lie had taken cold. I said, " You have 
a cold ? " He answered, " No, I don't think so, but I 
am poorly. I feel low and depressed." I got him out 
a little in the garden, and after great difficulty I had 
him dressed to go out. The husband of our church 
attendant had died on the previous Sunday morning, 
and she was very anxious that Mr Maughan should 
inter him. He had, however, wished Mr Fenton to 
do it ; but it was our Ladies' meeting, and as he felt so 
low, I desired him to go out a little, thinking it might 
cheer him. He dressed, but was unable to go further 
than the verandah, and I found him still there when I 
returned from the meeting. He had been superintend- 
ing the weeding done by Mary and the children during 
the whole afternoon. The whole week he continued 
poorly, but insisted that he should be better by the 
Sunday, and advertised^to preach on u Purgatory." 

' When Sunday came, however, he was not well 
enough. The church was crowded, about 50 persons 
remaining in the porch. Mr Fenton preached, and 
read a note from him, saying he regretted not being 
able to be there, but would, God willing*, be there the 
following Sunday evening. He went out on the 
Wednesday, conducted the Church-meeting on the 
same evening, though going and returning in a closed 
hansom. He took the class on the Thursday, but with 
great pain, and conducted the young men's meeting 
half through later on in the evening. On the Friday 
he was very poorly, and on Saturday much the same. 

' I had said to him when advertising, " I fear you 
will not be well enough to preach ; had you not better 
put it off for another Sunday ? " He said, " No, I shall 



ME MAUGHAN's LAST HOUES. 



151 



be better for Sunday, and it will do us great harm if I 
do not keep my word/' 

' On Sunday he preached at night his last sermon. 
He was too weak to walk to the church, but got 
through with his accustomed ease, and very few in 
that crowded church would imagine the suffering he 
had been enduring. 

'When he got home I said, "You feel very 
wearied?" " Not a bit of it ; I am ever so much better. 
It has done me good." I said, " Well, we shall see to- 
morrow how much." 

' On Monday he was frightfully depressed ; he said 
he never felt anything like it, except during the illness 
at Mr Whitwortrr's, when you saw him for several days. 
The Doctor came in to see our little boy, and with his 
usual hilarity said, " What's the matter with you ? " 
My husband replied, " Oh, Doctor, I am very bad — 
such depression, that I feel as though I were going to 
die." The Doctor playfully said, "Well, you know 
you are of very little use in this world, and if you are 
going to die, make your will, and we'll see to the rest." 
He looked up very pathetically, and said, " You say 
true, Doctor, I am of very little use, very little use." 
It was something new to the Doctor to see him de- 
pressed. He wrote a prescription, which was immedi- 
ately sent to be made up, but which did not relieve 
him. The Doctor continued in attendance from that 
time. 

' He seemed to be getting over the attack of bron- 
chitis. He had taken two Turkish baths, and must, I 
fear, have taken a chill. He had suitable medicine on the 
Friday or Saturday, and baths on Saturday and Sunday. 



152 



MEMOIR OE THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



' On Monday night a leaders' meeting was held in 
his bed-room. He wished to go down-stairs, but found 
his strength unequal to the task, and the meeting was 
held in his bed-room. The friends said, " Mr Maughan, 
you are very poorly — we had better not sing." He re- 
plied, " Yes, you must sing, you must sing." He then 
conducted the business of the meeting, until Mr Fen- 
ton's arrival from his class. It was the annual meet- 
ing of the leaders, and he was very anxious and 
earnest in making arrangements that every one elected 
to the offices should not merely hold the office, but 
work. Besides the usual announcement from the pulpit 
on the previous Sunday, I had written a note from 
his dictation to every member of the meeting, so as 
to ensure their attendance. Among other matters 
the mission services were arranged for, and he en- 
gaged himself for the evening service. 

' When the meeting was over he said, " Well, a 
great load of anxiety is now taken off my heart ; I have 
been so anxious about that meeting, I did want to get 
the officers elected for the year. I feel now quite re- 
lieved and comfortable about the Church, and I did 
enjoy that singing; oh, I did enjoy it." 

' On the Tuesday dysentery set in. He seemed at 
once to settle in his own mind that it was come for his 
end, and said so to our Mary. To me he said, " I 
shall not rally." Still we hoped. 

' On the Wednesday four of those who had been 
on the Monday night came up to see him. He said, 
" Let them come up, but tell them I cannot talk, and 
ask them not to stop long." Mr Curtin and Mr Smith 
had also come up. He was sitting up, and as soon as 



MR MAUGHAN'S LAST HOURS. 



153 



they entered the room lie said, " I am very ill, very ill ; 
but I am all right. This is my experience — 

"Fix'd on this ground will I remain, 

Though my heart fail, and flesh decay ; 
This anchor shall my soul sustain, 

When heaven and earth are fled away." 

' The friends, men as they all were, burst into tears ; 
they wrung his hand in silence, and went quietly down- 
stairs, never to look on his face again until they saw 
him departing, or viewed his cold remains. Some of 
them, with others, carried him to his last resting-place. 
Mr Curtin turned a moment. Mr Maughan said, 
cc Good-night. " Mr Curtin said, " I am coming back 
to stay the night with you."" 

f From that night Mr Smith and he came and 
stayed, one in the early part, and the other the remain- 
ing portion of each night so long as he survived. 

' On the Thursday a shivering, which greatly 
alarmed me, took place while he was dozing. I 
wished to send for the Doctor, but he would not let 
me. Not feeling satisfied, I left Milton and Mary 
with him, ran down-stairs, and with great haste wrote 
a note to the Doctor, giving the symptoms, and asking 
for advice in case the shivering returned. I was con- 
vinced the heart was weakened, and it seemed to me 
to have stopped for a moment. Minnie with great 
speed returned, bringing a little bottle, 30 drops of 
which were to be given if needed. The Doctor had been 
for many days visiting twice each day. When he 
came at night he said, " Well, any more shivering ? " 
"How do you know, Doctor, about the shivering ? " my 
dear husband said. " Because your wife wrote and 



154 



MEMOIR OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAM- 



told me, and she did quite right." He said, " Well, I 
call that a downright piece of disobedience, and my 
wife is not accustomed to do that." I said, " James, 
you would not let me send, and I felt I must have 
something if it should return. You will not believe you 
were so bad as you gave signs of." 

'When the Doctor went, I followed him down- 
stairs, and pressed him to tell me what he thought. 
He said " he would get over the dysentery, but that 
spasm of the heart showed that it is very weak, and 
if the heart fails I can say nothing, for that is a more 
serious matter than the dysentery.-" James asked me 
what the Doctor said. I told him. 

' On the Friday Mr Way came to see him. He 
talked over his temporal concerns with him, telling 
him what at one time he had proposed concerning 
Milton ; but that he must now work his own way up 
through life. He then went into a religious conversa- 
tion, saying that on minor matters he had thought for 
himself, and his views on all the great doctrines were 
in harmony with those of his own Denomination ; and 
emphasizing the atonement, he said, Ci And as to the 
atonement, let there be no mistake there. I rest upon 
it without a doubt, without the shadow of a doubt. I 
am conscious of many imperfections, but I can honestly 
say that I have served God and the Methodist New 
Connexion, not as a hireling, but with all my powers, 
and now I can die peacefully, resting not on any 
merit of my own, but solely on the atonement made by 
my Saviour." He then repeated with great emphasis 
the verse — 

" Fix'd on this ground will I remain," &c. 



ME MAUGHAN's LAST HOUKS. 



155 



' After Mr "Way left lie made all arrangements for 
his funeral and for me. It was a great struggle for 
us both, but each was trying to keep up for the other's 
sake ; and as I wanted to carry out his desires in 
everything, we talked long and often, and if I broke 
down he would say, " Now be a heroine ; if it is God's 
will we must submit, and be ready to say, Thy will be 
done/' 

' On the Friday after his arrangements were made 
he said, " About my memoir. You know I always in- 
tended to write an autobiography ; but it is too late 
now, and there is no one I should like to trouble to 
write my memoir but Dr Cooke. Don't be in a hurry 
about it ; take plenty of time ; write him when I am 
gone, but tell him you will look together all the scraps 
concerning me. Arrange them in order and send them 
all to Dr Cooke, stipulating for their return to your- 
self. But don't be in a hurry about it." 

''Turning to his son Milton, a boy of about 13, he 
repeated that beautiful hymn of Addison, 

" When all Thy mercies, 0 my God, 
My rising soul surveys, 
Transported with the view, I'm lost 
In wonder, love, and praise ! " &c. 

And then addressing Milton personally, he said, " My 
son, that hymn is your father's experience through 
life, and at this moment." 

'With Mr Curtin, when pain ceased, he would 
often hold conversation. On one occasion he said he 
never so fully realized the beauty of that hymn as he 
did then — 



156 



MEMOIE OF THE EEV. JAMES MATJGHAN. 



" When passing through the watery deep, 

I ask in faith His promised aid, 
The waves an awful distance keep, 

And shrink from my devoted head ; 
Tearless their violence I dare ; 
They cannot harm, for God is there ! " 

( Again he said, u I have not that rapturous joy 
which some have, neither do I want it. I have solid 
peace, and the poet has hit off my experience in four 
lines — 

1 Fix'd on this rock will I remain/ " &c. 

'When Mr Curtin congratulated him on the 
Tuesday on being better, he said, " Well, it may seem 
strauge, but Fm not glad/'' On Mr Curtin seeming sur- 
prised, he said, "1 thought I was just stepping over the 
threshold into heaven, and now Pve got to come back 
to earth, — at least, the Doctor says so." Mr Curtin 
said, " Perhaps your Master has got some more work 
for you to do." He replied, " Well, if so, I must do it ; 
but I thought I had finished." 

' He said the same day to me, " Well, it's not a 
thing to be talked about, but I feel rather disappointed. 
I have suffered so much and cannot do the work I 
would, and I thought God saw I was of so little use in 
the world, that He was about to take His suffering 
servant home." 

' On the Tuesday night Mr Curtin wished to stay 
half the night, but we begged him to go home. About 
eleven o'clock we laid ourselves down for awhile. I 
felt his hands cold. He said they were warm. I 
wished to have hot water to his feet, as they were cold. 
He said No, they were quite comfortable, and begged 



MR MAUGHAN'S LAST HOURS. 



157 



I would lie down by his side. For two days he had 
been able to lie on the bed. I laid myself down at his 
request, Mary lying in another part of the room ready 
at any moment to rise if called. About two o' clock I 
had to get up to attend to him, and on my turning 
round, I found him standing by the bed. I felt 
alarmed, knowing how weak he was, and I earnestly 
besought him to lie down. He did so, and for the 
first time his mind began to wander. Mary, immedi- 
ately after, called Milton, then Mr Fenton, who went 
for Mr Curtin and the Doctor. Much of his wandering 
was about me, fearing I was ill. 

' About seven it all ceased; he kissed all the 
children and called them each by name. I asked him 
if he knew me; he answered, "To be sure I do; it's 
Catherine.-" 

' I repeated in his ear the 23rd Psalm. When I 
got to the words, ' ' Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort 
me/' he said, " They do comfort me ; they comfort me 
now." I said, " Unto you that believe He is precious." 
He said, " Yes, He is precious, very precious ; He is 
precious now." 

' I said, " James, 

' Not a cloud does arise to darken your skies, 
Or hide for one moment your Lord from your eyes ' ? " 

c He said, " No, not one — not one — not for one 
moment." He said, " Tell the young men to work, 
and not to let their armour grow rusty ; for as they 
have worked and lived faithfully, so shall they triumph 
at last." 

' After this a friend suggested that they should 



158 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



repeat him a hymn. He began with — " 0 speak of 
Jesus," and afterwards he read part of the 161st hymn, 
beginning with the verse — 

" When death o'er nature shall prevail, 
And all the powers of language fail, 
Joy through my swimming eyes shall break, 
And mean the thanks I cannot speak." 

Though he seemed to enjoy these new hymns, yet when 
Mr Curtin finished he began to hum (to the tune 
Nativity) the hymn, u My God, the spring ; " then he 
sang in the same tone the greater part of the hymn 
commencing — 

" Arise, my soul, arise ! 

Shake off thy guilty fears : 
The bleeding Sacrifice 
In my behalf appears ; 
Before the throne my Surety stands, 
My name is written on His hands," 

emphasizing greatly the words, " That ransomed," and 
" Father, Abba Father." After this, in a voice almost 
inaudible, he sang the hymn — 

" We sing of the realms of the blest, 
That country so bright and so fair, 
And oft are its glories confess'd ; 
But what must it be to be there ! " 

When Mr Curtin got to the chorus he was omitting 
part of it, but the dying saint repeated, "But what, 
but what, but what shall it be to be there ? " These 
were probably the last words he uttered. He was too 
weak to sing the whole verse, but the words " but 
what, but what " he repeated to the end. 

' After this he made an attempt to rise. He was 
raised into a sitting position, and from that time his 



MR MAUGHAN'S LAST HOURS. 



159 



breathing gradually became shorter and more feeble, 
until at last they who were standing by could scarcely 
tell whether the spirit had departed or not. So quiet 
and calm was his exit that it might truly be said, " He 
fell asleep in Jesus." As the last moments were 
nearing Mr Fenton, at Mr Curtin's request, engaged 
in prayer, which was responded to by the sobs of the 
children, and indeed of all present. Before that 
prayer was ended the dying saint had passed away. 
i( Could he have chosen how to die, and where, he 
would not have chosen otherwise/' In the room 
were many of the members and officers of the Church 
who, having seen his Christian life, were privileged to 
behold his Christian death. One of the friends who 
had sat up with him for a week, and to whom he was 
tenderly attached, was on one side supporting him, 
his head leaning upon his shoulder; on the other 
side I was holding him up, his hand in mine, our 
eldest son kneeling by his side. Thus attended he 
fearlessly entered the valley. The last sounds of earth 
which fell upon his ear were those of prayer and 
praise. But who can tell what lay beyond the valley ? 
This moment we see him sinking into the arms of 
death ; the next, by faith we behold him in the embrace 
of the blessed Jesus. This moment we see him ex- 
hausted, dying; the next, free from all pain, blessed 
and happy as the angels of God. 

' Mary, Mr Curtin, and myself performed the last 
necessary acts for him. We laid him on his mother's 
sheets, and no other hands touched him until the men 
brought that evening his last bed. How much I be- 
grudged them that last act I can scarcely toll you ; 



160 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

but, as I told the undertaker, <c He must do all in my 
presence, as though I was not there. 13 

' He lay in his own study, at his own request ; but 
on the Thursday at 11 we had to take our last look. 
I cannot tell you how I envied for once your cold 
English climate that I might keep my dead in my 
sight, instead of wishing, as Abraham did, to bury 
my dead out of my sight. 

' I had refused to allow the undertaker to come up 
as he wished on the Thursday morning ; and he said, 
when here on the Wednesday night, "Well, Mrs 
Maughan, you will be very glad to send for me." I 
said, " With you it is business, with me feeling; leave 
it to me. I am not going to act foolishly ; if I find it 
necessary I will send/'' 

' At seven on the Thursday morning I congratulated 
myself on being able to take many views of his serene 
and happy face. At eight, rapid signs of what we 
dreaded to see had come on, and when Mr Way came 
to see him, he said, " Mrs Maughan, I must send 
the undertaker up at once." I had fondly hoped to 
view him longer, and had done all we could think of ; 
but, alas ! alas ! another pang, and then — it was nearly 
the last. 

' On the Friday Minnie gathered his best flowers ; 
we wreathed them round the plate, tied them with 
white as my emblem of love to his spirit, which he 
said, if spirits were allowed to do so, would be ever 
guarding us ; and then we followed him to the church, 
myself and Milton, Minnie and Marinus, Mary and 
Melville, Mr Way and Mr Prockter. Eight of his own 
people bore him to the tomb. 



THE FUNERAL SEEVICE. 



161 



' My dear Doctor, what I liave written about James 
I knew you would wish to know. I had intended to 
write to Mr and Mrs Whitworth, but I fear I must 
leave it now. Will you convey to them my love, my 
thanks for their kind attentions to my dear husband ? 
My love to Mrs Cooke, Mrs Carlisle (with whom I 
can now sympathize in truth), and to Miss Cooke, and 
Mr William, and allow me to be 

' Affectionately yours, 

' Catherine Maughan.' 

Our dear brother died in his 45th year, just when 
his mental powers were maturing. The intelligence 
of his death rapidly spread, and hung like a dark 
cloud over the town of Adelaide, covering it with gloom 
and sorrow. All denominations bewailed the event as 
a common calamity ; the public journals gave utterance 
to the general sorrow, and bore emphatic testimony to 
his worth, both as a citizen and as a minister. In a 
brief sketch of his life and labours given in c the 
Adelaide Register/ I find the following eulogy : — 

' During the seven years of his residence in the 
colony Mr Maughan has identified himself with many 
public movements, especially those of a literary and 
philanthropic character. He was an eloquent and 
forcible preacher and an able lecturer. He took great 
delight in scientific and philosophical pursuits, and his 
popular lectures on subjects connected with those 
pursuits were highly appreciated. His death will be 
a severe loss to his Church and the Associations con- 
nected with it, and will also be keenly felt by a very 
large circle of acquaintances. His genial disposition, 

11 



162 MEH0IE OP THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



gentlemanly manner, and painstaking anxiety to 
assist to the utmost of his information and ability all 
who appealed to him for assistance, won for him golden 
opinions, and will enhance the regret felt at his death. 
Besides a widow, he leaves behind four young children/ 
' The funeral took place on Friday afternoon, 
March 10. Shortly after half-past two o'clock the 
mournful cortege, consisting of a hearse, four mourning 
coaches, and a considerable number of private vehicles, 
started from the deceased gentleman's residence, 
Whitmore Square, and proceeded to the church. 
Franklin- street, into which the body was carried by 
the officers of the Church. There was a very large 
congregation, including representatives of many de- 
nominations. Prior to the arrival of the remains, 
and whilst they were being conveyed into the edifice, 
the organ pealed forth the mournful strains of " The 
Dead March in Saul/' producing a feeling of deep, 
solemnity. The proceedings were begun by the Rev. 
H. Fenton giving out the hymn commencing — 

" When all Thy mercies, 0 my God, 
My rising soul surveys, 
Transported with the view, I'm lost 
In wonder, love, and praise ! " 

Mr Fenton said this hymn had been selected because 
the Eev. Mr Maughan, in his last illness, desired to 
have it repeated to him, and when it had been repeated, 
he said to his eldest boy, " That is my experience 
throughout life." After the hymn had been sung, 

' The Rev. W. L. Binks read from the 12th verse 
to the end of the 15th chapter of the 1st Corinthians. 
He then said — " My dear Christian friends, I feel that 



■ 



THE FUNERAL SERVICE. 163 

I am quite unequal to comply with the request of the 
departed, who expressed a wish that I should take 
some part in this solemn service. I feel that this is 
indeed a very solemn occasion, and one full of the 
deepest moment to us all as members of the Church 
of Christ, and as members of this community ; for it 
is not an ordinary calamity that has befallen us and 
befallen the Church of God in the removal of our dear 
brother. We may indeed feel to-day as those felt on 
a former occasion, of whom it is said that they made 
great lamentation over Stephen, and devout men 
carried him to his burial. We may to-day make great 
lamentation, because of the removal of one from our 
midst so greatly beloved — beloved, not simply by his 
own members and congregation, but by all the members 
of the Churches of Christ in this colony. He was 
always ready to render any assistance to them, and 
help on the work of God according to his ability. I 
was very much struck with the hymn just sung, which 
he selected to be sung on this occasion, because it 
seemed to me to speak so much of the sentiment of his 
heart how deeply indebted he was to the grace of 
God, and that it was the grace of God that had made 
him what he was, and that had given him so many 
loving hearts and so many affectionate friends, and 
that had raised him in the estimation of all Christian 
Churches. Ah ! my dear brethren, this is not only 
our duty, but our highest privilege, to give all the 
glory to God ; for what we are — for what we know — 
for what we possess intellectually, morally, and 
spiritually, all the glory belongs to God. I need not 
remind you that our departed brother was a man of 



164 MEM0IE OP THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



distinguished ability ; he would have been distinguished 
wherever his lot had been cast ; he was so in his own 
beloved country , and not less so in this country. We 
may well say that we have lost a man of very extensive 
knowledge — of science as well as of Christian theology 
— that we have lost an able minister of Jesus Christ ; 
and we can ill afford to lose such men in this land. 
' Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright : for 
the end of that man is peace/ My dear friends, we 
ought on this occasion deeply to reflect upon our own 
mortality. ' What thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
all thy might ; for there is no work nor device in the 
grave, whither thou goest.' I feel that I ought to be 
more faithful, more devout, more humble, and more 
an imitator of my Master, because of what is before 
me, and very near to me — death ; and I trust that the 
impression will be made upon this vast congregation, 
that you ' must work while it is to-day, for the night 
cometh when no man can work/ I am sure if the 
spirit of our departed friend is conscious of what is 
transpiring, that the determination of any present to 
give themselves to God and lead a new life would 
heighten his joy in the presence of God. I hope and 
trust that his labours in connection with this Church 
will be so sanctified of God, and so blessed to the 
congregation, that many will seriously reflect upon his 
advice and counsel to them, and at once identify them- 
selves with the Church of Christ. My dear friends, I 
hope that young and old will take the matter to heart, 
and no longer delay the great business of salvation. 
I need not say that the bereaved family will need an 
interest, and demand an interest, in your prayers and 



THE FUNERAL SERVICE. 



165 



sympathies. A greater calamity could not have 
befallen them ; but even in this day of sorrow and 
painful separation, the great God can sustain and sup- 
port His people as He has done in times past. Do we 
believe that the Saviour, who went to the family of 
Bethany in the time of their bereavement, will not 
also come to this bereaved family, and sustain and 
comfort them ? I trust that we shall all from this 
time feel that ( in the midst of life we are in death/ 
and that we shall consecrate ourselves entirely to the 
service of God. May the Lord sanctify and bless this 
painful event to us all, and especially to the members 
of this Church and congregation, for Christ's sake. 
Amen." 

' Another hymn, beginning — 

" My God, the spring of all my joys," 

also chosen for the occasion by the deceased, having 
been sung, the Rev. Mr Binks offered an appropriate 
prayer, and the service terminated. 

' The funeral procession then slowly wended its way 
to the West-terrace Cemetery, the number of vehicles 
constantly receiving additions. The hearse was pre- 
ceded by the children connected with the Sunday- 
school of the Church. 

' The Rev. James Way delivered a suitable address, 
urging the importance of ever living in preparation 
for death, and mentioning that the Rev. Mr Maughan 
wished it particularly to be stated that he died in sure 
and certain hope of a joyful resurrection ; he then en- 
gaged in prayer, after which the Sunday-school chil- 
dren sung " The Realms of the Blest," a hymn which 



166 MEMOIE OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



the Kev. Mr Fenton observed the departed minister 
sung just before his death. The benediction having 
been pronounced, the people gradually dispersed, 
many staying to take a last look at that which con- 
tained all that was mortal of the respected gentleman/ 



167 



CHAPTER XIII. 

ESTIMATE OF ME MAUGHAN's CHAEACTEE. 

His personal piety. Mr Maughan's religion was 
not an empty profession ; it was vital experience and 
practical obedience. When a youth of sixteen he was 
soundly converted; he obtained a clear sense of the 
forgiveness of sins, and I believe he habitually lived 
in the favour of God, and brought forth the fruits of 
holiness. I do not mean to say that his sky had no 
cloud, and his character no spot of infirmity. But as 
a rule, he walked with God, and had this testimony 
that he pleased God, and he uniformly exemplified 
the simplicity, the sincerity, the purity, and excellence 
of true religion. 

He was a man of high principle, incapable of 
meanness and wrong-doing. He had fixed views of 
right, and adhered to them without compromise. Yet 
his high integrity had no mixture of moroseness or 
severity, but was blended with a kindly disposition, 
and unostentatious benevolence. I never knew a man 
less selfish in his nature : he laid his time, his attain- 



168 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAM. 



ments, his pecuniary resources, and his energies of 
body and mind under contribution for the good of 
others. He would rise at the hour of midnight to 
serve a fellow-creature ; he would travel any distance 
to see a sick person, or help any one in perplexity or 
distress. 

His benevolence was evident in his liberal contri- 
butions to the cause of God and his gifts to the poor. 
When a young man, his purse was not very full, but it 
was always open to the appeals of the needy, and his 
benefactions to the Church were really munificent. In 
the list of subscriptions to the Adelaide Chapel I see 
£124 10s. for himself and family ; and besides this, he 
gave scores of pounds, the fruits of his lectures and 
extra labours. 

The same disposition was evinced in his genial 
temper. He bore no malice, he remembered no in- 
juries, and he seldom or never accounted any man an 
enemy. He would stand up tenaciously enough in 
defence of his opinions, but he was tolerant to his op- 
ponents. He sometimes received reproof, but he never 
resented the objurgation. I have seen him weep when 
he thought he had grieved a friend, and entreat his 
forgiveness ; and I have seen him disarm all hostility 
by an outburst of genial humour, or the utterance of 
a playful expression. 

His benevolence was manifest in a perfect freedom 
from envy, and his delight in the reputation, honour, 
and usefulness of his brother ministers. He was never 
jealous of another's eminence ; he viewed no man as a 
rival, but regarded the honours won by the attain- 
ments and excellence of others as cause for common 



ESTIMATE OP HIS CHARACTER. 



169 



joy. The same' spirit displayed itself in his genuine 
catholicity. Though he loved his own denomination 
with filial ardour, and thoroughly approved of its prin- 
ciples, yet he sincerely loved good men of all Churches. 
No doubt his extensive intercourse with men of all 
shades of opinion had an expanding influence, and his 
toils in the Mission field often brought him into im- 
mediate contact with the practical difficulties of the 
rival interests of sectarianism, while his brightening 
and enlarging views of Christianity itself raised his 
mind so far above the petty distinctions of creed and 
Church government, that he yearned, as great minds 
everywhere do yearn, for closer communion with the 
Churches of Christ, and more unity of action in their 
diversified operations. How long, 0 Lord, how long 
shall thy people keep open the festering wounds of con- 
troversy on points diminutive as an atom compared with 
the broad foundations on which Thy universal Church 
is built ! and how long shall their strength be wasted 
in isolated rivalries, while the terrible combinations of 
evil around us everywhere demand the closest unity, 
the most compact confederation, and the most ener- 
getic action ! 

Mr Maughanwas pre-eminently an earnest labourer. 
There was not a sluggish atom in his body, nor an un- 
developed faculty in his mind. He showed his natural 
industry by working for his living at the early age of 
eight years, and in the career of labour he then 
entered he never relaxed until the wheels of nature 
stood still from utter exhaustion. Says Mr Linley, in 
language as beautiful as appropriate and forcible, ' Our 
brother's life furnishes an example of Christian earnest- 



170 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

ness. Earnestness! — intenseness of desire: — Chris- 
tian earnestness ! — ardour in the pursuit of objects 
pertaining to Christ. While exhorting others not to 
let their armour rust, he took care that his own was 
bright. He often declared that he would rather wear 
out than rust out. Young men, do you not feel the 
force of his example ? Do not his actions as well as 
his words convey this injunction, Be in earnest ? All 
things around you are in earnest. Time is passing ; 
opportunities for usefulness are diminishing ; eternity 
is at hand. If you would sow bountifully and reap 
bountifully, there must be no delay : the most miser- 
able of experiences is that of the man who at the close 
of his life has to declare that life has been a failure. 
Behold that village boy, enjoying but few educational 
advantages, toiling for his daily bread when some 
have scarcely commenced with the first rudiments of 
learning. What bears him onward, enabling him to 
surmount the most formidable obstacles ? What but 
his unwearying energy and perseverance, a spirit akin 
to that which glowed in the bosom of a great man 
who said, " I think nothing done while anything re- 
mains undone " ? Let the young mark this ! Perse- 
vering energy will enable them to accomplish any- 
thing, and secure for them lasting usefulness and 
honour. Let them read in the light of our brother's 
life those memorable words pronounced by the Eev. 
T. Binney in his lecture on Sir F. Buxton, " Energy, 
young men, energy ! no talent, no station, no circum- 
stances can make a two-legged creature a man without it. 3 " 
Mr Maughan's intellectual attainments were ex- 
tensive. He had naturally a mind of great acuteness 



ESTIMATE OF HIS CHARACTER. 



171 



and comprehension, and it was enriched by extensive 
reading and arduous study. Mr Linley justly observes, 
' As a lecturer, it is astonishing on what a variety 
of topics he could speak. In particular depart- 
ments of science and literature, there were men whose 
knowledge was more profound, men who have gained 
for themselves a greater name, men whose utterances 
are more authoritative. But take the whole field of 
science, and how few men we shall find who have ex- 
amined so large a portion of it ! We do not claim for 
our brother pre-eminence in every department of 
science, for breadth and depth of knowledge are 
usually in inverse proportions; but in what department 
of science, whether sacred or secular, would he not 
have been pre-eminent had he devoted to it his whole 
attention ? It was, however, no mean advantage to a 
young colony like this, where the division of labour, 
whether mental or physical, cannot be so fully secured 
as in the old country, to have a man who was 
equally at home in the laboratory of the chemist, the 
observatory of the astronomer, and. the chair of the 
divine.'' 

Though Mr Maughan was neither a linguist nor a 
mathematician, and though not so profound in any of 
the sciences as some men who devote their whole lives 
to their pursuit, yet his knowledge was far from 
superficial, and in some special branches it was both 
extensive and exact ; far more so than many whose 
names are distinguished by certain appendages of sup- 
posed merit. When a man's opinion is sought on 
metallic ores, and his analytic skill desired to test the 
quality of food, water, and various chemical materials, 



172 



MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 



and when his decision on such matters is sought and 
adopted by government authorities, it doubtless im- 
plies in himself an amount of exact knowledge, and 
on the part of competent judges a degree of confidence, 
highly complimentary to his attainments, and honour- 
able to the Denomination of which he was a minister. 
Moreover, he died in the full vigour of his intellectual 
powers, and before he had reached the meridian of his 
attainments. As Mr Linley justly remarks, ' It is diffi- 
cult to say to what eminence he would have attained had 
health and long life been afforded him. He was con- 
scious of intellectual growth, a growth which was not 
arrested by the baneful habit which some preachers 
have contracted, — that of repeating in after life the 
feeble, immature productions of their early ministry.' 

Mr Maughan was endued with invincible courage 
and fortitude. He quailed before no difficulties, how- 
ever formidable, and even dangers excited no alarm. 
Where others desponded he was buoyant with hope, 
and where others were terrified he was calm and self- 
possessed. I was once present in Brunswick Chapel, 
when the lightning struck a place near to us; the 
thunder pealed as if the very heavens were crashed, 
and the chapel seemed as if it were fired; the congre- 
gation were terror-struck ; but Mr Maughan kept on 
the service undismayed, and started off singing the 
hymn — 

' His lightnings flash, His thunders roll, 
How welcome to the faithful soul.' 

He had the same courage when at sea and in all his 
labours, and it failed him not in the hour of death. 
Mr Maughan's life was one crowned with useful- 



ESTIMATE OE HIS CHARACTER. 



173 



ness. If we look back through his history we find it 
marked by a track of usefulness, first in his own 
village as a teacher and a temperance lecturer ; then 
as a local preacher ; and then as a minister ; and in 
every Circuit in which he laboured we find not rents, 
divisions, dilapidated walls, and the disgrace of dimin- 
ished numbers, but an increase of members in every 
sphere of labour, and connected with augmented 
numbers consolidated material interests. In fact, he 
loved the Connexion, and was ambitious to promote its 
prosperity ; he loved souls, and longed to secure their 
salvation; he loved Christ, and intensely desired to 
advance His glory. Here we find the spring of his 
activities and diversified labours, and here we see the 
secret of his success. 

When he entered a new Circuit, and found it low 
and depressed, he did not, like some selfish lazy 
souls, sit down at ease, determined to let things take 
their course, and get through the term of his appoint- 
ment as comfortably as possible. But he at once 
grappled with existing difficulties, met pressing 
exigencies, and mustered his forces for a vigorous 
campaign and a successful issue. Never did a 
merchant set himself to succeed in business with an 
energy more determined than Mr Maughan did to 
revive the Church when languishing, and build up its 
walls when dilapidated. He visited the people, he 
organized young men's meetings, he gathered around 
him labourers and directed their operations ; he de- 
livered lectures and special sermons on week nights 
as well as on the Sabbaths ; he held revival services, 
and he aimed to make all his efforts concentrate in 



174 MEM0IK OF THE EEV. JAMES MAUGHAN. 

the quickening, the strengthening, the increasing and 
consolidating of the Churches committed to his care. 

And he succeeded to an encouraging extent. 
London, Bristol, and Adelaide bear special witness to 
this. As for London, we know what its weakness was 
when he came, and its improvement when he left. As 
for Bristol, Mr Phillips, who was a zealous co-worker 
with him there, states, in a letter now before me, that 
' during the time Mr Maughan laboured in Bristol 
there were few congregations better than our own, 
and many not so good, as those we then had in Castle 
Green.'' And while the number of members was 
increased by an addition of 64, the benefits of his 
instruction to young men cannot be calculated. Mr 
Linley says, ' In Leicester, and even in Melbourne it 
has been my lot to meet with young men who have 
spoken of the pleasure they experienced in attending 
Mr Maughan' s lectures during the period of his 
sojourn in Bristol. ; 

In Adelaide we have seen the results of his labours 
while he had health and strength to pursue them, and 
very few in England can estimate the amount of labour 
and anxiety required in a distant colony to create and 
sustain a Church, and to connect with it the amount of 
material property he was enabled to obtain, and to 
gain the amount of public influence which he won. 
He was not only an able minister, but reckoned one of 
the chief men of the colony; and as an evidence of 
this, a meeting of gentlemen connected with various 
Denominations was held immediately after his death, 
to erect over his grave a suitable monument to his 
memory. 



ESTIMATE OF HIS CHARACTER. 



175 



Far be it from the author of this volume to repre- 
sent Mr Maughan as a perfect man, or a complete 
model. True, he had none of the adventitious and 
objectionable habits of the smoker, the snuffer, and the 
chewer of tobacco, nor the toper, nor the lounger in 
bed. During the greater part of his life he was a 
strict abstainer from all intoxicating beverages, and 
was temperate in all things except in his labours. 
True, also, he was a good man, a good citizen, and 
a true Christian, an able minister, and a philosopher 
of varied and extensive acquirements, and in some 
high qualities he had few compeers in his day ; but, 
after all, he was human, and had his peculiarities and 
his faults. Some small scars and blemishes there were 
on the fair and well-proportioned statue of his humanity. 
In company his genial disposition and abounding 
information rendered him sometimes too loquacious ; 
and his love for good society caused him sometimes to 
forget the flight of time, and miscalculate the exact 
moment for commencing his public duties. The titles 
by which he announced his subjects were not always 
in the best taste, and his anecdotes at public meetings 
were sometimes more amusing than instructive and 
edifying. Moreover, he was, at least during a con- 
siderable portion of his ministry, not so wise as he 
ought to have been in the appropriation of his time. 
Always accessible, he allowed the hours of the day to 
be too much encroached upon by friendly visitors, and 
less important matters ; and then, to make up for lost 
time, he deprived himself of sleep by studying for many 
long hours at night, and sometimes for the whole 
night. I fear that the vital forces of his nature were 



176 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JAMES MATT G HAN. 



largely drawn upon, and at last prematurely exhaust ed, 
by night studies. To this we must add a faulty indif- 
ference to his own health. The sword was too sharp 
for its scabbard ; the wear and tear of nature were not 
gradual, but rapid, and a vigorous constitution was 
broken down and wasted at the age of 44, that might 
have worn well to the seventh or eighth decade of 
life, for the welfare of his family and the Church of 
God. In the prodigal waste of his strength we look at 
his early grave with profound regret, and point to his 
excesses as a beacon, not as a model. Emulate his 
zeal to the utmost of your power, but let it be regulated 
by a wise economy of the priceless blessing of health. 
The fidelity of an honest biographer compels me to 
say so much as to Mr Maughan's faults ; but here my 
list of known imperfections is exhausted. Intimate as 
I was with him for 28 years, I knew no others. Doubt- 
less, viewed by the eye of God, and tried by His holy 
and inflexible law, there were many others, which he 
deeply lamented before God. But the graces he ex- 
emplified in his affliction and the triumph of his death 
plainly show that his religion was sound and his pre- 
paration for eternity not a thing to be hastily sought 
in a dying hour, but a state already enjoyed, a meet- 
ness for heaven habitually realized. His end was 
peace — a peace which passeth all understanding, a 
complete triumph, a glorious entrance into everlasting 
rest. 

His character is before us. Let us follow him as 
he followed Christ. There are in him a few things to 
be avoided, there are many to be admired and imitated. 
Young men, study his character as a whole. Follow 



ESTIMATE OF HIS CHAEACTEE. 



177 



him not (indeed, follow no man) in his eccentricities. 
In his protracted illness and early death there is an 
admonition against night studies, against neglect of 
health, and disregard of life. But in his piety, his 
thirst for knowledge, his love of labour, his zeal for 
Christ, his catholicity of spirit, and his persistent 
love for his Denomination, emulate our departed 
brother, and excel him if you can. 



12 



SELECT SERMONS AND LECTURES 

BY THE 

EEV. JAMES MAUGHAK 



181 



SERMON I. 

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

' For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must 
put on immortality.' — 1 Cor. xv. 53. 

These words form part of Paul's magnificent argu- 
ment in favour of the resurrection of the dead. One 
of our modern poets, personifying the soul, and at the 
same time paraphrasing the noble sentiment of our 
text, has said with force and beauty — 

' Gird up thy mind to contemplation, 
Trembling inhabitant of earth. 
Tenant of a hovel for a day, — 
Thou art heir of the universe for ever ! 
For neither congealing of the grave, 
Nor gulping waters of the firmament, 
Nor expansive airs of heaven, 
Nor dissipating fires of Gehenna, 
Nor rust of rest, nor wear, nor waste, 
Nor loss, nor chance, nor change, 
Shall avail to quench or overwhelm 
The spark of soul within thee.' 

That there dwells in man a deathless spirit there 
is abundant evidence. 



182 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



I. THERE IS, FIRST, THE EVIDENCE ARISING FROM THE 
UNIVERSAL RECOGNITION OF THIS DOCTRINE. 

It is a fact that into whatever part of the world 
we go, or into whatever period of its history we look, 
we find, with very few exceptions, that all classes of 
mankind in all ages, and all grades and states of civil- 
ization, have believed in the doctrine of the soul's im- 
mortality. Belief in the existence of a future state has 
ever been one great distinguishing feature between 
man and the brute creation. It has formed the basis 
of every religious creed, whether Pagan, Jewish, or 
Christian, in all the history of the world. This senti- 
ment has been so congenial to the human mind, that 
nothing has ever been able to eradicate it. No amount 
of intellectual darkness has been able to prevent its 
entrance, and no amount of learning has been able to 
cast it out. 

We must either believe, then, that the finger of. 
God has written a lie upon the tablet of man's heart, 
or that the doctrine of his immortality is true. But 
again — 

II. THERE IS THE EVIDENCE ARISING FROM THE DESIRES 
OF THE HUMAN HEART. 

Excepting where vice has beclouded the reason 
and depraved the affections, there is scarcely a man to 
be found on the earth who does not indulge in the 
hope of immortality. Many of the old Pagan philoso- 
phers reasoned with philosophical accuracy on this 
subject. Cyrus, the King of Persia, and the contem- 
porary of some of the Old Testament prophets, said to 
his children before he died, ' Do not imagine, my dear 
children, that when I leave vou I shall cease to exist. 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



183 



I can never suffer myself to be persuaded that man 
lives only while he is in the body, and dies when it is 
dissolved, or that the soul loses all intelligence on 
being separated from an unintelligent lump of clay ; 
but rather believe that the soul, on being liberated 
from all mixture with the body, enters upon its true 
intellectual existence.'' 1 

Just before Socrates took that fatal cup of poison 
that terminated his life he spent several hours with 
his friends in discussing the doctrine of the soul's im- 
mortality. Amongst other striking things, he said, 
' Those who have passed through life with peculiar 
sanctity of manners are received into a pure region, 
where they live without their bodies to all eternity, 
in a series of joys and delights, which cannot be de- 
scribed/ 

Cicero, the great Roman orator, represents Cato 
as exclaiming, c I feel myself transported with de- 
light at the thought of again seeing and joining 
your father, whom on earth I highly respected and 
dearly loved ; and, borne on the wings of hope and 
desire, I am speeding my flight to mingle with the 
honoured society, not of those only with whom I have 
on earth conversed, but of those also of whom I have 
heard and read, and the history of whose lives I my- 
self have written for the instruction of mankind. Oh, 
glorious day ! when I shall be admitted into the as- 
sembly of the wise and good, when I shall make an 
eternal escape from this sink of corruption, and this 
din of folly ; and when amidst the happy throng of 

1 This is stated on the authority of Xcnophon. — Editor. 



184 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



immortals, I shall find thee also, my son, my Cato, 
best and most amiable of men/ 

Now, can any one believe that God would have im- 
planted such yearning desires after immortality in the 
bosom of man without the possibility of their being 
gratified ? There is not a desire or tendency to be 
found in the natures of any of the lower orders of 
creation that does not meet with its corresponding 
gratifications ; there is not another desire or tendency 
in man's own nature that God has not amply provided 
for ; and can I believe that God provides for the in- 
stincts which He gives to the beasts of the field, and 
leaves the noble aspirations of my soul to be unsatis- 
fied ? Can it be possible that He has provided for the 
gratification of all the proper wants of my inferior 
nature, and left the aspirations of my better nature en- 
tirely without provision ? Away with such a doctrine ! 
That God, who has provided me with eyes, and has 
given me the power of seeing ; who has provided me 
with ears, and given me the power of hearing, has 
never planted an instinct within me to believe a lie ; 
has never deceived me by exciting hopes in my mind 
that are illusive, or implanted desires there that are 
only to be destroyed. It is a fair and reasonable con- 
clusion to come to, that ' as God has provided for all 
the other yearnings of my nature, He has also provided 
for my yearnings after immortality/ But again — 

III. THERE IS THE EVIDENCE ARISING FROM THE IM- 
MATERIALITY OF THE SOUL. 

When I look at the constitution of my nature I 
find it a twofold one, — matter and mind. But now I 
find the properties of matter as different from those of 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



185 



mind as they possibly can be. If I examine my body, 
I find it has the properties of extension, figure, solid- 
ity, impenetrability, divisibility, &c. But when I ex- 
amine my intellectual and moral nature, I find its 
attributes different. Instead of extension, figure, &c, 
I find such things as consciousness, understanding, 
judgment, memory, reason, volition, and moral emo- 
tion. Here, then, are two things as distinct from each 
other as distinction can make them. 

When the body dies it crumbles into pieces, and 
resolves itself into millions of atoms. But the soul 
is indivisible, insoluble, inseparable. When accidents 
happen to the body and the limbs become separated 
from each other, the soul still remains intact. If that 
soul were material it would be divisible and separable, 
and therefore capable of being subtracted from, like 
the body itself. But it is not divisible and reducible, 
and therefore cannot be material; and if not material, 
it must be spiritual, for we know of nothing but either 
matter or spirit in the whole universe. But besides 
divisibility, matter has extension and figure. You 
can take a divided scale and measure its length, \ 
breadth, and thickness. But whoever took a yardstick 
to measure a man's mind, or made use of a plumbline 
to fathom the depth of his soul ? 

The properties of matter are so diverse and dis- 
tinct from mind, that it is impossible to suppose them 
belonging to the same essence. Even Yoltaire, when 
ridiculing the materialism of Democritus, could ask 
tauntingly, * How can matter think ? 3 But again — 

IV. THERE IS THE EVIDENCE ARISING FROM THE 
AMAZING CAPACITIES AND FACULTIES OF THE SOUL. 



188 



THE IMMORTALITY OP THE SOUL. 



1. Think of its power of thought, of the recording 
pen of memory, of the creations of genius, the glow 
of enterprise, the light of reason, the voice of con- 
science, all proving- to us that the soul of man is 
spiritual, intellectual, immaterial, immortal. You may 
subject matter to a million changes; you may analyze 
it, and alter it, and change it into every possible form 
of combination ; but you can never make it think. No 
possible combination of matter can ever be made to 
produce a single thought. But oh, the power of the 
human soul ! That can do what matter never can 
accomplish. 

2. And then think of its power of acquiring know- 
ledge. Rivers have their limits, the ocean has its 
bounds, but the soul wanders away on through limit- 
less fields of investigation. It plunges into the abysses 
of creation, it ascends to the very footsteps of the 
eternal throne, and is stayed there only by the glory 
of Him who sits upon it. Of Alexander it is said that 
when he had conquered the world, he sat down and 
wept because there were no more worlds to conquer. 
And so of the human soul it may be said, that if ever 
it should acquire so much knowledge as that it should 
think there was no more knowledge to acquire, it too 
would sit down and weep. If Sir Isaac Newton had 
been living to this day, he would still have been 
employed in the acquisition of knowledge. God has 
endowed the human mind with capacities to which no 
definite limitation can be assigned. In this respect it 
has no resemblance, no rival, no compeer within the 
entire range of the visible creation. In childhood it 
begins the work of inquiry and research, in youth and 



THE IMMORTALITY OP THE SOUL. 



187 



manhood it advances, in old age it still accumulates its 
stores. Every new attainment becomes a higher plat- 
form for a still loftier ascent ; and when it is interrupted 
by disease or old age, it is the material organization 
that is interrupted, and not the soul itself. The mind 
fades not, it wearies not ; and the presumption is, that 
if connected with an imperishable body, or liberated 
from a material restraint, it would go on expanding 
and advancing through all eternity. 

3. And then think of its power of pleasing. How 
it can charm by description, dazzle by comparison, 
enliven by wit, convince by argument, thrill, captivate, 
and carry away by eloquence. Think of its power of 
acting on matter, in the glow of painting, in the 
symmetry of architecture, in the beauty of sculpture, 
in the enchanting tones of music, and in all the vast 
variety of the intonations of the human voice. How 
expressive the words of Dr Young : 

e How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, 
How complicate, how wonderful, is man ! 
How passing wonder He who made him such, 
Who centred in our make such strange extremes ! 
Prom different natures marvellously mix'd, 
Connection exquisite of distant worlds ! 
Distinguish'd link in beings' endless chain, 
Midway from nothing to the Deity ! 
A beam ethereal, sullied and absorb'd ! 
Though sullied and dishonour'd, still divine ! 
Dim miniature of greatness absolute, 
An heir of glory, a frail child of dust ! 
Helpless, immortal ! insect, infinite! 
A worm! a God ! I tremble at myself, 
And in myself am lost ! At home, a stranger, 
Thought wanders up and down, surprised, aghast ! 



188 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



And wondering at her own. How reason reels ! 
Oh, what a miracle to man is man.' 

And let me ask, Can it be that God has given to 
man the capacities of an archangel with less than the 
duration of a tree of the forest ? Has He endued him 
with unlimited powers only that they may be imme- 
diately extinguished ? Has He endowed him with the 
lineaments of His own image only that they may be 
blotted out the moment they begin to be unfolded ? 
Is every atom of rude matter to be spared from anni- 
hilation, and yet the only being capable of intelligently 
contemplating its glorious Creator to be consigned to 
everlasting oblivion ? Are unconscious suns and 
systems to roll on for ages unimpaired, while the only 
being that can comprehend their laws is destroyed? 
Is the great temple of nature to stand with its portals 
open through all eternity, while the only beings 
capable of worshipping within its walls are to perish 
from existence as they cross the threshold ? Is the 
volume of Jehovah's wonder printed for the instruc- 
tion of mankind ; and are God's children the moment 
they have learned to lisp its alphabet to wither, and to 
droop and die ? Nay, this cannot be ! It is im- 
possible ! Eeason repels the thought as being utterly 
unworthy of the great Creator. The wisdom that 
has created harmony everywhere cannot create dis- 
cordance here. The capacity of the soul for perpetual 
attainment involves an evidence of its perpetual 
existence. If there be adaptation and harmony in the 
works of God, if there be the same wisdom and good- 
ness and adaptation of means to ends in the constitu- 
tion of mind as there is in matter, then the immortality 



THE IMMORTALITY OP THE SOUL. 189 



of the soul is not a matter of a problematical character, 
but one that is absolutely certaiu. But again — 

V. THE NEXT ARGUMENT IN FAVOUR OP THE IMMORTAL- 
ITY OF THE SOUL IS THAT ARISING FROM THE INEQUALITIES 
OF PROVIDENCE IN THE PRESENT LIFE. 

We know that God is a benevolent and holy being, 
and that His government must be of a righteous and 
holy character. But it is impossible not to see that 
there is not a consummation of the principles of justice 
and equity in the present life. We do indeed see even 
now such an obvious connection between vice and 
misery on the one hand, virtue and happiness on the 
other, as to convince us that a just and holy God 
governs the world. But the exceptions to this are 
numerous. 

How often we see virtue depressed and vice 
triumphant; innocence murdered and guilt unpunished. 
A benefactor is traduced, imprisoned, tortured, and 
crucified, while a tyrant, a curse and scourge to 
society, prospers in the world, dies in honour, and then 
is deified as a hero. The best men often get worst on, 
and have to drink the world's vinegar and gall, while 
the worst men get on the best, and revel in the midst of 
luxury and ease. But are we to suppose that this 
state of things will continue as it is for ever ? No, no I 
Reason recoils from such a supposition. If perfect 
equity demands that virtue shall be rewarded and 
vice shall be punished, — and these things are not 
always met with in the present life, — depend upon it 
these very inequalities prove to us that there is a great 
settling time yet to come, when the Judge of all the 
earth will do right; when all moral and social wrongs 



190 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



will be rectified ; when the whole scheme of Divine 
Providence will be turned the other way up ; when 
many of those who have got unrighteously to the top of 
the scale will have to come down to the bottom, and 
those who have been kept unrighteously at the 
bottom will be permitted to go to the top. 

VI. BUT THE LAST AND BY FAR THE MOST IMPORTANT 
EVIDENCE IN FAVOUR OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL IS 
THAT TO BE DERIVED FROM THE TEACHINGS OF DIVINE 
REVELATION. 

Here we are met on the very threshold of Divine 
revelation. In Genesis ii. we are told that when God 
created man He breathed into him a living soul, &c. 
But man's immortality is clearly seen in the threaten- 
ing, ' In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely 
die/ That Abraham believed is clear from Heb. xi. 
10, ' For he looked for a city which hath foundations, 
whose builder and maker is God.'' Then there was 
Job, ' I know that my Eedeemer liveth, and that He 
shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and 
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet 
in my flesh shall I see God.-' Then Moses, c Choosing 
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than 
to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ; esteeming 
the reproach of Christ greater riches than the trea- 
sures in Egypt : for he had respect unto the recom- 
pence of the reward/ Then David says, ' Thou wilt 
shew me the path of life : in Thy presence is fulness 
of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for 
evermore/ Psalm xvi. 11. Then Isaiah, Daniel, Eze- 
kiel, and Malachi, e Then they that feared the Lord 
spake cften one to another : and the Lord hearkened, 



THE IMMORTALITY OP THE SOUL. 



191 



and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written 
before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that 
thought upon His name. And they shall be mine, 
saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up 
my jewels/ Then the Great Eedeemer, ' God so loved 
the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life.' f What shall it profit a man, if 
he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own 
soul ? ' Then Paul, ' For this corruptible must put 
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on im- 
mortality/ &c. 

Here, then, we think we have found the most over- 
whelming evidence in proof of the immortality of the 
soul. Let no one sceptically stagger at the difficulty 
respecting his own immortality that may present 
itself to his mind. 

' Still seems it strange that thou should'st live for ever? 
Is it less strange that thou should'st live at all ? 
This is a miracle, and that no more, 
Who gave beginning can exclude an end.' 

This brings us to the practical considerations 
which the important subject before us is intended to 
suggest. 

1. If the soul is immortal it must live through 
eternity in weal or woe. But oh, who can define that 
word ? 

' Who shall imagine immortality, 
Or picture its illimitable prospect ? 
How feebly can a faltering tongue 
Express the vast idea ! 
For consider the primal woods 
That bristle over broad Australia, 



192 



THE IMMORTALITY OP THE SOUL. 



And count their autumn leaves, 
Millions multiplied by millions. 
Thence look up to a moonless sky 
From a sleeping isle of the iEgean, 
And add to these leaves yon starry host, 
Sparkling on the midnight, numberless. 
Thence traverse an Arabia, 
Some continent of eddying sand, 
Gather each grain, let none escape : 
Add them to the leaves and stars. 
Afterwards gaze upon the sea, 
The thousand leagues of an Atlantic, 
Take drop by drop, and add their sum 
To the grains and leaves and stars. 

' The drops of ocean, the desert sands, 
The leaves and stars innumerable 
(Albeit in that multitude of multitudes 
Each small unit were an age), 
All might reckon for an instant, 
A transient flash of time, 
Compared with the intolerable blaze, 
The measureless enduring of eternity.' 

The question has been asked again and again. I 
confess the only answer I have ever seen is the ' Life- 
time of God Almighty.' 

2. If the soul be immortal it is perfectly clear that 
the things of this world cannot be its satisfying 
portion. 

I know that many men imagine that the aching 
void within them can be filled up with this world's 
pleasures. And if the soul were like the body, mortal, 
so it would; but if man has an immortal soul, that 
soul must have immortal food. 

Now God's word, &c, Church, &c. 



THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 193 

3. If the soul be immortal, then it is evident that 
its destiny is in our own keeping, and that upon 
our own conduct will depend its everlasting happiness 
or misery. 

4. If the soul be immortal, then it is high time that 
we began to improve the few fleeting hours of this 
life that are still meted out to us. 

( If we neglect eternity and fail to secure for our- 
selves a blissful immortality/ Eobert Hall says, c we 
shall be guilty of a piece of infatuation so horribly and 
inconceivably great that it will require one eternity to 
deplore it, and another to comprehend it./ 



13 



194 



SERMON II. 

ON THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEPARTED SOULS. 

' But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living 
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of 
angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which 
are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits 
of just men made perfect.' — Heb. xii. 22, 23. 

What contrast of thought is here ! What strength 
of language ! What consolatoriness of sentiment. ! 
What felicity of diction ! How precious the announce- 
ment, and how delightful the congratulation ! ' Ye 
are come/ ^ Come , to the heavenly paradise; 'come 
unto mount Sion ; ' 1 come ' to its royal Ruler ; ' come ' 
to its angelic guardians ; ' come ' to its hallowed privi- 
leges ; yea further, we ' come ' to its glorified inhabit- 
ants. The spectral dead are here invoked. Their 
disembodied souls are here revealed. Not to alarm, 
not to startle ; but to awaken spiritual-mindedness and 
to give impulse to hope. Two scenes are brought 
before us, — one to terrify, the other to relieve. Chas- 
tisements, rebukes, roots of bitterness ; fire, blackness, 
darkness, tempest, sounding trumpets, entreaties and 
terrible sights, are all set on one side as the dark back- 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEPARTED SOULS. 195 

ground with which the consolations of our text are 
intended to be contrasted. 

And yet these words appear perplexing. They tell 
us we are 'come/ in apparent contradiction to our 
own experience. The very reverse appears to be the 
fact. We are not even in their presence,, for they have 
gone from us. We see them no longer. We miss 
their loving voices. We lose their sweet communings. 
The link between themselves and us is broken. Wide 
is the separating interval. Their land is far from ours. 
They could not defer their departure ; we could not 
arrest their flight. Access to them is denied. Ap- 
proximation appears impossible. Are we not, then, 
being tantalized when told that we are come to those 
from whom we have been so ruthlessly and irreparably 
torn ? 

But our apprehensions are also excited. We 
naturally recoil from phantom visitation. Instinctively 
we shrink from contact with the spirit world. That 
ghost-story of the ancient patriarch is a forcible illus- 
tration of this fact, — ' In thoughts from the visions of 
the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, fear came 
upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to 
shake. Then a spirit passed before my face ; the 
hair of my flesh stood up : it stood still, but I could 
not discern the form thereof : an image was before 
mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice/ 
As we read this thrilling story our blood almost freezes. 
We feel the throbbings of our pulse ; we hear the 
beatings of our hearts ; the pictorial vividness flashes 
before our eyes ; its reality startles us. Then the 
New Testament gives other illustrations. When the 



196 THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OE DEPARTED SOULS. 

tempest-tossed disciples saw Jesus on the sea, they 
were troubled, and they cried out for fear; for they 
said; ' It is a spirit/ When Christ attested His resur- 
rection by His appearance amongst His disciples they 
were terrified and affrighted, and supposed they had 
seen a spirit. Who could wish to be confronted with 
the departed spirit, even of his dearest friend ? What 
nerve could stand the interview ? What heart could 
suffer the embrace ? And yet we are told that we are 
come to the spirits of the just. 

But even this is not all. To the creation of per- 
plexity and the excitement of fear there is also to be 
added the repression of our pride. Men delight in 
detraction. ' Base envy withers at another's joy/ 
We are mortified in the sight of superior excellency. 
We revel in the sight of a rival's fall. We cannot bear 
that another should wear the chaplet for which we 
yearn. But here our rivalry is forestalled, our ardour 
is repressed, our imitation is debarred, our pride is 
humbled, for we are come to the spirits of just men 
made perfect. They stand inaccessible in height. 
Having fought and conquered, they are crowned with 
glory. Their pilgrimage is ended. Temptation and 
trial are no longer theirs. Their bliss is perfected, 
their purity is unalloyed. 

But the counsel of God must stand, and that 
counsel is here most consolatory. Countervailing con- 
siderations notwithstanding, we are here assured that 
our loved ones are not lost. Stripped from the burden 
of the flesh, they now revel in immortal joys. 

' Their voyage of life's at an end, 
Their mortal affliction is past ; 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEPARTED SOULS. 197 

The age that in heaven they spend 
For ever and ever shall last. 5 

Their exaltation is the pledge and model of our 
own; and notwithstanding the apparent impassable- 
ness of the gulf that separates us, the time of our 
happy reunion will come. 

c E'en now by faith we join our hands 
With those that went before, 
And greet the blood-besprinkled bands 
On the eternal shore.' 

Let us then to-night come to these spirits, con- 
template their blessedness, catch their fervours, and 
reciprocate their joys. 

Two things here command our consideration : 

I. THE DISTINGUISHED SUBJECTS OP THIS CONTEMPLA- 
TION. 

II. THE DELIGHTFUL AND EXALTED SPHERE IN WHICH 
THEY MOVE. 

I. THE SUBJECTS OP THIS DECLARATION. 

Who are they ? whence their origin ? That they 
are not heaven-born is evident from their being the 
spirits of men. That they are not therefore by nature 
the rightful inheritors of heaven, but there by the 
issues of grace it were superfluous to prove. 

But they are said to be the spirits of the just. But 
who are the just ? Man is the subject of obligations. 
To render a complete and equitable discharge of these 
obligations is to realize the programme of justice. If 
he renders unrelaxing homage and obedience to his 
Creator, he is just with God ; if he acts with perfect 
and unrelaxing equity to his fellows, he is also just 
with man. But where is such spotless and unceasing 



198 THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEPAETED SOULS. 

justice to be found ? Have not all sinned and come 
short of the glory of God ? Is there a just man upon 
the earth, that doeth good and sinneth not ? High 
authority pronounces that there is none righteous ; no, 
not one. By man's apostasy his race has become de- 
generate : he has fallen from the pinnacle of integrity, 
and self-redemption is beyond his power. Salvation 
cannot originate within himself ; guilt cannot justify 
itself ; pollution canuot purify. Of all the shining 
throng in heaven, not one sits upon the throne of in- 
herent righteousness. In heaven, as on earth, the 
ransomed walk in borrowed splendour. Man's accept- 
ance comes from another's righteousness ; his justifi- 
cation from another's justness. c By grace are ye saved 
through faith.' ( Being justified by faith, we have 
peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.' ( He 
that is born of the flesh is flesh: but he that is born of 
the Spirit is spirit.' ' Ye must be born again.' These 
are the essential requisites. They constitute the just, 
and the just only can dwell in safety. 

This term ' just,' however, frequently designates 
principle and disposition as well as character. ' The 
way of the just is uprightness : thou, most upright, 
dost weigh the path of the just.' When this term is 
attached to the saints its embodiment is expressed. 
Noah was a just man and perfect, — integrity was the 
illustration. John the Baptist was just and holy, — his 
taintless sanctity was the proof. Simeon was a just 
man and devout, — seraphic fervour was the develop- 
ment. Joseph of Arimathea was a good man, and 
just, — benevolence was the key-note. Cornelius was 
a just man, and one that feared God, and abiding 



THE INTEKMEDIATE STATE OF DEPARTED SOULS. 199 

obedience was the attesting fruit. Hence, in that 
beautiful apostolic enumeration of the Christian virtues, 
c Whatsoever things are lovely 3 are most appropriately 
blended with ' whatsoever things are just/ They, then, 
who by faith in Christ exult in hope of immortality 
are those our text pronounces just, and the justness of 
their lives is the vindication of the justice of this pro- 
nouncement. 

First, there is inflexibility of rectitude. To walk 
before God and before the world with unswerving up- 
rightness is their highest aim. They allow no meaner 
standard. Hence they are designated the ' upright in 
heart.' They may sometimes fail to reach the goal of 
their ambition, but their eyes are ever thitherward. 

Then there is unswervingness of fidelity. They 
are intrusted servants. They are representatives of 
Him for whom they act. They are God's almoners to 
those from whom it were baseness to withhold. To 
them talents have been intrusted that they might be 
improved. It is theirs, then, to occupy till the Master 
come. 

But, again, there is unrelaxingness of obedience. 
Theirs is the constant care of duty. Their study is to 
know, their pleasure to obey. They evade evasion. 
They shrink from compromise. It is their conscious 
liberty and their confessed delight to do the will of 
God. Their purity of heart is the panoply of their 
defence. Its radiance beams out before them, and it 
is reflected around them. And this purity is obtained 
on earth. As the portion of the saints — the real 
heritage of the c just/ it is the heritage of the just 
alone. Only in the present state can that external 



200 THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEPARTED SOULS. 

acceptance and that internal regeneration be obtained, 
which complete this state and character. On this 
brink only of the great eternity can man be titled and 
meetened for heaven. Theirs is an awful self-decep- 
tion who, after living ' unjust ' on earth, hope to be- 
come ' just ' in heaven. When once the terrible rubicon 
is passed the terrible decision is sounded, ' He that 
is unjust let him be unjust still.' In heaven nothing 
can enter that defileth or maketh a lie. Having, then, 
noticed the origin of these just men, let us now ob- 
serve — 

It THE EXALTED SPHERE OE THEIR EXISTENCE. 

' Ye are come to the spirits of just men made per- 
fect.'' Here we are called upon to contemplate them 
in a new condition. We knew their characters on earth. 
But their nature is now no more compounded. The 
image of earth has been effaced. Mortality is swal- 
lowed up of life. And now their higher essence, their 
purest intellection, their unembodied consciousness, 
their immaterial and immortal selves, are conjured be- 
fore us. What their relation is to space, how without 
organism spirits can interchange sentiment and re- 
ciprocate affection, it is not ours to know. All of sub- 
sisting life, all of actual perception, all of capacity to 
feel, all of power to act, is confined to the soul. Its 
body has become disorganized, and as such has ceased 
to be. If that body had some central undying nucleus, 
some rallying particle or identifying mark, anatomy 
has failed to find it. It is as if an utter outcast. It 
has passed from observation like the setting sun. 
Upon the spiritualism of the just, therefore, we have 
to-night exclusively to dwell. 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEPARTED SOITLS. 201 



That the destiny of the soul of man differs from 
the destiny of the inferior creation is clearly the 
doctrine of revelation. ' Who knoweth the spirit of a 
man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast 
that goeth downward to the earth V Such is the dis- 
tinction. The spirit separates from the body ; it de- 
parts, ascends — we fly away. The animal part, in- 
separable from organized life, sinks with the body to 
the ground. The dissolution of the man consists of 
this disintegration. ' Then shall the dust return to the 
earth as it was, and the spirit shall ascend to God who 
gave it/ 

The doctrine that man is endowed with one simple 
unmixed nature finds no countenance in the word of 
truth. Whatever speculative philosophy may say to 
the contrary, if the nature of man be simply uniform 
and indivisible, he is simply a material being. Then, 
life and intelligence are not additions to a frame pre- 
pared for them, but the mere result of its organization. 
But the whole word of revelation is based in antagon- 
ism to this. It proclaims that there is a spirit in man. 
It honours the Creator as the God of the spirits of all 
flesh. It tells us that the spirit of man is the candle 
of the Lord. It tells us of man being in the body, 
and out of the body. In what incident of religious 
history is the doctrine of materialism to be found ? 
Not in the burning bush of Midian, for there God pro- 
claims Himself to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob ; and yet that he is not the God of the dead, 
but of the living. Not surely on the hill of Calvary, for 
there the dying thief was addressed, ' To-day shalt thou 
be with me in paradise/ Not surely at the martyr- 



202 THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OE DEPARTED SOULS. 

dom of Stephen, for we hear that seraphic moral hero 
crying, ' Lord Jesus, receive my spirit/ Not surely 
in the dissolution of an apostle, for we hear the most 
philosophical of these exclaiming, ' Having a desire to 
depart, and to be with Christ. 3 Not surely amid the 
slate quarries of Patmos, for there the apostle and 
prophet of Christ exclaims, c I heard a voice from 
heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead/ 
&c. Not surely on the threshold of the parables, for 
f the beggar died, and was carried to Abraham's 
bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and 
in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments/ &c. 
And not surely in the midst of the heavenly visions, 
for the great Apocalyptic seer says, ' I beheld, and 
lo ! a great multitude stood before the throne, clothed 
in white robes/ &c. You may, then, find the doctrine 
of materialism in the brain of the visionary or in the 
heart of the sceptic, but you will not find even the 
shadow of it in the word of God. 

As little does materialism find support in those con- 
ditions of the body to which it appeals. The body for 
the present is the instrument as well as the habitation 
of the soul. There is a mysterious sympathy betwixt 
them. It is not denied that both may feel the alternate 
influence. The mind may weary the body ; the body 
may weary or obscure the mind. But there is one 
event of frequent occurrence which cannot be over- 
looked, and the argument from which it is impossible 
to withstand. 

The Christian lies upon his death-bed. His 
corporeal frame is shattered, emaciated, wrung. It is 
wrecked in all its powers. His mind, however, is 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEPARTED SOULS. 203 

unimpaired in its vigour, and unshaken in its faith. 
It never so rose, it never so triumphed until now. It 
now flashes forth, not as an expiring taper, but as a 
precious gem, from which the last incrustation has 
just been cleared away. It is now in the crisis of its 
history. It is now in the eve of its glory. It is now 
in the dawning of its immortality. And can it be that 
the spirit just when being touched into a state of 
unearthly splendour is destined to collapse and perish ? 
Is this departing greatness the simple precursor of 
nothing ? Is this preternatural outbeaming of the 
soul the simple token of its approaching extinction ? 
Away with such an assumption ! If it were thus, 
the soul would simply be adorning itself in death as a 
victim for the sacrifice. 

That the soul outlives the dissolution of the 
trembling tabernacle, Scripture and reason alike 
affirm. 

But what is death ? Here we hesitate and ponder. 
All that we know of death is that it has power over 
the body. It destroys its sensation, and occasions its 
decay. We know also that it has power over the 
spirit. But of its effect on spirit we can do nothing 
but presume. Does it extinguish or does it detach ? 
Reason answers not authoritatively ; but revelation 
cures our suspense. The soul goes forth. It rises 
from the body's ruin, and emerges from it. There is 
a receptacle fitted to receive it. There is a place of 
refuge. It can exist and act separately. But such 
existence and action are subject to modification. It 
retains its vitality. It maintains its activity ; bat these 
become subject to new conditions. It is absorbed 



204 THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEPARTED SOULS. 

within itself. It escapes the influences of mortality 
and death. Nothing of its own proper nature is 
changed. It waits the resurrection of the body. But 
the internal is that of spiritual delight. Paul abandons 
himself with unfaltering confidence into the arms of 
the Messiah in this moment. ' Nevertheless I am not 
ashamed^ for I know in whom I have believed, and 
that He is able to keep that which I have committed 
unto Him against that day/ Hence, also, the exclama- 
tion of holy defiance, 1 Who shall separate us from the 
love of Christ ? ' Hence, also, the triumphant boast, — 
boast in spite of the evils which threaten life, c For I 
am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, 
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of 
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord/ 

Heaven, then, is set forth as a present state on 
which the mind should rest. ' While we look at the 
things which are not seen/ f We have a building of 
God/ The redeemed are f the saints in light/ c To 
an inheritance among them that are sanctified ! 9 c For 
now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly, 
wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, 
for He hath prepared for them a city/ 'For if we 
believe in Jesus, and that He rose from the dead, 
even so them that sleep in Jesus shall God bring 
with Him/ That is, having since their death spent 
the interval with God, He will bring them in His 
train on the morning of the resurrection to become 
re-united with their long-vacated forms. 

The promises and exhortations of the gospel are all 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEPARTED SOULS. 205 

based on the immediateness of reward in glory. It is 
through much tribulation we are to enter the kingdom. 
' These are they who came out of great tribulation, 
and have washed their robes and made them white in 
the blood of the Lamb/ Hence we are exhorted to be 
not slothful, but followers of them who through faith 
and patience inherit the promises. ' Blessed is the 
man that endureth temptation : for when he is tried, 
he shall receive the crown of life.' We can hold no 
sympathy with the quibble that if we continue under 
the influence of death till the resurrection, there 
can be no loss because of the unconsciousness of the 
interval. Men might in the same manner reconcile 
themselves to annihilation. It is abridgment, real 
and serious, of the purest felicity. This doctrine would 
involve the abandonment of a true immortality, and it 
impairs the motive which arises from the fact of 
undelayed retribution. It lowers every conception of 
the soul. It dislocates our being, destroys its con- 
tinuity, relaxes our hopes, and intensifies our fears. 
But we need not be troubled. Every instinct and 
every aspiration of the soul rises in rebellion against 
such a creed. 

The state of the redeemed in heaven is that of 
immediate and intimate union with Christ. They are 
absent from the body, but present with the Lord. 
They departed in the consolatory assurance of depart- 
ing to be with Christ, which is far better. 

In heaven the spirit is matured in its powers and 
consummated in its joys. According to its capacities 
it is complete. All its true aims are unfolded. It is 
a condition of true spiritualism. Many facts suggest 



206 THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEPARTED SOULS. 

themselves as the necessary accompaniment of such a 
condition. 

Look, first, at the distinctness of the moral con- 
sciousness. 

Amidst the distractions of worldly care it is too 
common and too easy to lose the remembrance of that 
solemn individualization in which each spirit is con- 
densed. We are often reluctant to feel what we truly 
are. But the influence of religion induces us to com- 
mune with ourselves, and impels us to make diligent 
search into our own spirits. We then recollect our- 
selves ; yet it is not without stern effort we succeed. 
But the spirit made perfect can know no dissipating 
nor forgetful mpod. It revolves on its own centre, 
and lives in its own light. 

Look, second, at the strength of the inward life. 

The Christian's life is one of contemplation. But 
how often the habit of contemplation lapses or becomes 
weakened by the multiplication of the cares of earth. 
But not so with the spirit in heaven. Its introverted 
power is ever vigorous. Nothing can suspend, or 
mar, or weaken it. The whole soul and all that is 
within it is centred and absorbed in its joyful con- 
templations. 

Look, third, at the clearness of the intellectual 
faculty. 

Barriers restrict, clouds obscure the exercise of 
the mind on earth. But the spirit made perfect is 
gloriously freed from these impediments. Nothing can 
restrict its freedom, impair its judgment, or restrain 
its activity. The eye of its understanding never shuts 
and never wearies. It finds every object kindred to 



THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OP DEPARTED SOULS. 207 

itself. It ranges amongst the works and attributes of 
the eternal. It follows on to know the Lord. 

Look, fourth, at the intentness of the meditative 
abstraction. 

The world is now a noisy intruder on our quiet 
retirement. It is in our heart. Evil is present with 
us. Our thoughts wander, our passions rebel. But 
the spirit of the just made perfect possesses the most 
undisputed control over all its operations. Outward 
scenes or outward sense can no more distract it. It 
is rapt in the deep things of God. Its heaven of 
contemplation no tempest can disturb, no cloud can 
dim. It is smitten by the loveliness of its own 
themes, and overwhelmed with the grandeur of its own 
meditations. 

Look, fifth, at the earnestness of the adoring 
gratitude. 

The Christian on earth is often amazed at what the 
Lord has done for his soul. He cannot conceal the 
wondrous tale. And yet his tongue falters in telling 
it, and his best efforts are partial and in miniature. 

But there all is known and understood; nothing 
can arise to hide the full glory from the soul. 

There the spirit has a harp on which to strike its 
melodies, and a crown by which to express its 
glory. With these it warbles its thanksgiving, and 
renders its everlasting homage of praises to its God. 

And look, sixth, at the gladness of the awaiting 
aspiration. 

The disembodied spirit ascertains the future 
stage to which it constantly approaches, it under- 
stands its nature, and is assured of its certainty. 



208 THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF DEPARTED SOULS. 

Doubt and impatience can have no place in such a 
spirit. Weariness and suspense belong to mortals, 
but spirits made perfect sigh not their desires. Calmly 
and intently they see their complete redemption from 
afar, and possess in their own perfection the earnest of 
their ever-coming glories. 

Of the perfection of such beings it would have 
delighted us to have spoken ; this perfection must be 
ever intelligent and ever progressive. 

There is the perfection of the spirit's holiness, the 
completeness of its wisdom, and the fulness of its 
beatitude. 

Then there are the relationships subsisting between 
ourselves and them. There is the unity of sentiment, 
the resemblance of position, and the endearment of 
their sympathy, but of these we cannot speak. 
Conclusion — 

I. Have we come ? 
II. Then be thankful. 

III. See you go not back. Persevere. 

IV. Invite others, call men to repentance, to 
Christ, to salvation, to eternal life. All is ready. 
God is waiting. 



209 



SERMON III. 

ON THE KESUERECTION OP THE DEAD. 

' If by any means I might attain nnto the resurrection of the dead.' 
— Phil. iii. 11. 

' But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them 
which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no 
hope. Tor if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so 
them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.'— 1 Thess. 
iv. 13, 14. 

Hope is an anchor to the tempest-tossed sonl. 
Holding to such an anchor by the strong cable of an 
unfaltering faith, the Christian is able to maintain his 
equanimity even when hurricanes assail. To the mere 
untutored mind the beaming star of Christian hope 
can never rise. It is to the Book of Revelation that 
we are indebted for all that is consolatory and assuring 
beyond the grave. Men dread the grave. The thought 
of it disturbs their mental equilibrium. It is the great 
barrier to the consummation of their expectations. 
Even our own notions of death are often dreamy and 
indefinite. We fear it. We appear as if conscious 

14 



210 



THE EESUEEECTION OF THE DEAD. 



that we must suffer loss, endure darkness, and experi- 
ence a suspensive interval. And yet no doctrine is 
more assured than that of the immediate and exalted 
happiness of the righteous, without delay or pause at 
death. 

The greatest of Teachers gave this assurance, { I am 
the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on 
Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live ; and who- 
soever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.'' The 
greatest of His apostles vindicated this great truth. 
To him neither principalities, nor powers, nor life, nor 
death, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, 
could arrest the progress of his being nor interrupt 
the felicities of his soul. In the event of mortal disso- 
lution he could only see that which was transitive, 
expanding, climacteric. Death was simply the trans- 
ference of the soul to the perfection of life. 'The 
body is dead/ said he, ' because of sin ; but the spirit 
is life, because of righteousness.' Death, in fact, is 
accession to life. It is spirit hastened to maturity. 
The seed has germinated, the flower has blown, the 
fruit is ripened. c Mortality is swallowed up of life/ In 
other words, it is the state in which life is disencum- 
bered of much hindrance, and concentrated into much 
power. 

Paul was qualified to pronounce on themes like 
these. He had been caught into the heavens, had 
gazed upon their inhabitants, had listened to their 
accents, and had mingled in their joys. But in no 
hesitating manner did he speak of their existence, with 
no faltering jealousy did he testify to their state. He 
calls that state by its name, he assigns its supernal 



THE EESUBEECTION OE THE DEAD. 



211 



position, and yearns for its immediate return, c having 
a desire to depart, and be with Christ, which is far 
better/ He was confident that death would bring him 
at once into the presence of Christ. He treads the 
awful confines of the great eternity, while all that is 
material between him and it seems, only as the tempo- 
rary curtain or the transparent fleecy cloud. His convic- 
tion is, that the moment death pronounces his release- 
ment his ransomed spirit at a bound would spring 
into paradise, and enter upon the inheritance of the 
saints in light. The blessed groups of the glorified 
are perpetually before his eye, and as he goes forth 
in daily suffering and toil, he is animated by the con- 
sciousness of their presence ; he stretches out his 
hands by faith to join them, and mingles the music of 
his songs with theirs. 

And yet, dwelling in the ecstasy of such a vision, 
he still sets his heart upon that which is ulterior, and 
which could only be remote. He knew that the day 
of Christ was not at hand, and he was ever warning 
others against that strange illusion. To his prophetic 
view many dark portending ages stood up, defined, illu- 
minated, and big with eventful issues, all of which must 
intervene before the saints could reach their final con- 
summation. To be with Christ would be his portion 
during this protracted interval. His body, which had so 
often encumbered him with its weakness and infirmity, 
would have ceased to repress his aspiration and en- 
danger his safety. His piercing intelligence and 
ardent love would have found congenial companion- 
ship. He would have finished his course. His war- 
fare would be accomplished. What acclamation would 



212 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 



have welcomed him ! What a rest had remained for 
him ! What a reward must he have found ! But not 
slighting this, he passes over. It does not satisfy 
him : with a sublime impatience he outruns it. He 
pants with an ambition which this does not exhaust j 
he is fired with a zeal which this does not appease. 
Then, when the dead shall rise up at the sound of the 
trumpet; then, when the sleeping dust of the holy 
shall be reconstructed and resuscitated ; then, when 
the body is given back to the spirit and the spirit to 
the body ; then only will he have seized his aim, then 
only have realized his triumph. 

The deduction is irresistible. What must be that 
sequel which can so fix, impress, and fill the mind, 
that while an instantaneous heaven stands out before 
it as the spirit's rest and home, it is carried over it, is 
transported beyond it to enjoyments that are more 
ample, to splendours that are more glowing, and to 
dignities that are more illustrious ? 

The language associated with our text is apologe- 
tic and agonistic. c This one thing I do, forgetting 
those things which are behind, and reaching forth 
unto those things which are before, I press toward 
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in 
Christ Jesus, that I may know Him, and the power of 
His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, 
being made conformable unto His death ; if by any 
means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.' 
Here, then, let us notice — 

I. THAT GREAT CONSUMMATION OE THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE 
FOR WHICH OUR TEXT TEACHES US TO LONG AND LABOUR. 



THE RESURRECTION OP THE DEAD. 



213 



II. THE ACCOMPANIMENTS AND CONSEQUENCES WITH 
WHICH THIS HOPE IS ASSOCIATED. 

III. THE CONDUCT AND DETERMINATION BY WHICH THIS 
HOPE IS TO BE SECURED. 

I. THAT GREAT CONSUMMATION OP THE CHRISTIANAS 
HOPE POR WHICH OUR TEXT TEACHES US TO LONG AND 
LABOUR. 

' That ye sorrow not, even as others which have no 
hope. If by any means I might attain unto the resur- 
rection/ This of all other doctrines is one that per- 
tains exclusively to revelation. The immortality of 
the soul was not unknown as an idea and a hope by 
the philosophers of the ancient world. But that the 
body should be restored, its structure reorganized, 
and its identity preserved, was an expectation too bold 
for human thought in its profoundest exercise. 

Philosophy never grasped it among its greatest 
outreachings ; poetry never fabled it among its 
sweetest inventions; that light which shines out in 
clearness and beauty in the Christian firmament never 
gleamed, even with fitful dimness, upon the heathen 
mind. To the Old Testament we are indebted for the 
first starlight glimmerings of our future glory. But it 
is by the discoveries of Christianity that the full power 
of the sunlight comes. Oar Saviour Jesus Christ hath 
brought life and immortality, or life and incorruption, 
to light by the gospel : that is, hath revealed to us the 
interminableness of the soul and the imperishableness 
of the body. 

The Scriptures tell us that there shall be one simul- 
taneous resurrection. ' And (the) many that sleep in 



214 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 



the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlast- 
ing life, and others to shame and everlasting contempt.' 
' The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the 
graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth ; they 
that have done good, unto the resurrection of life ; and 
they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damn- 
ation/ ' And (I) have hope towards God, that there 
shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just 
and unjust.' It is but one event. ' I know that he 
shall rise in the resurrection at the last day/ said 
Martha. ( And this is the will of Him that sent me, 
that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on 
Him, may have everlasting life : and I will raise him 
up at the last day.' 

And that one event is instantaneous. ( In anioment/ 
says the apostle in his great resurrection peroration, 
' in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump : for the 
trumpet shall sound — its echoing blast shall wind and 
girdle round the globe — the dead shall be raised, and 
we shall be changed.'' To share in the happiness of 
this great resurrection, then, with all its surpassing 
glory, the writer of our text aspired. Hidden in the 
grave he should then emerge as a conqueror and a 
king. But though one event happeneth to the right- 
eous and the wicked, the result in either case can 
never be the same. In one case it comes with triumph 
and with joy; in the other it is accompanied with 
widespread consternation. All the kindreds of the 
earth shall wail. The wicked shall cry to the moun- 
tains, and the rocks, ' Fall on us, and hide us/ Both 
wheat and tares shall come to the harvest, the wheat 
to be gathered into the garner, the tares to be burnt 



THE RESURRECTION OP THE DEAD. 215 

with, unquenchable fire. To one class it will be, ' De- 
part from me, ye workers of iniquity ; 3 to the other, 
( Look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption 
draweth nigh/ 

When death knocks at the door of the Christian 
the spirit leaves its earthly tenement. It is a decease, 
a departure, an exodus. That withdrawment is at 
death. Animal life was the bond that bound the twin 
companions; but that bond has now been broken, and 
the body has fallen into consequent decay. The soul 
is now separated fromjts earthly framework, it is free. 
It lives, but we know not how it acts ; it acts, but we 
know not how it lives. God never intended such a 
condition of divorcement. The soul in the separate 
state is not the complete person of the man. It is 
not integer of itself, it is the human being incom- 
plete, imperfect. It can only feel in respect to 
itself correspondingly. There must therefore be con- 
sciousness of deprivation. It is under a certain influ- 
ence of death. It is a part of death that primarily 
the spirit shall alone ascend to heaven. In that way 
our Lord was humbled. His spirit passed to Paradise 
on the day of crucifixion. The law and power of death 
in that disembodiment still kept their hold upon Him. 
It was release, but it was not triumph. The day of 
His resurrection was the day of His exaltation. All 
between that and His ascension was voluntary delay. 
His spirit dwelt apart, ere body and spirit were wel- 
comed into heaven. It was by this twofold stage that 
He entered into His glory. He went forth into 
eternity, first of all in the nakedness of His spirit, and 
then He rose from the dead. It is by this twofold 



216 



THE EESUERECTION OF THE DEAD. 



stage that we must be glorified. We go forth despoiled 
and denaturalized, until our investiture in the resur- 
rection shall be complete. 

The immediate happiness of the soul, which has 
left the present state of being, is perpetually assured 
us. ' Them who sleep in Jesus shall God bring with 
Him/ The covenant relation between Him and them 
can never be annulled by death. They die in the 
Lord. Herein is consistency with the fact of the re- 
surrection. That is but of the body. It is not a new 
creation. The higher life was never interrupted. He 
died for us, that whether we wake or sleep we should 
live together with Him. 

But let it be remembered that this is not a material 
and temporary resurrection, but a resurrection unto 
everlasting life. It shall not be a resurrection of the 
flesh and blood such as they are now. From the 
animal body shall emerge that which is still more 
glorious and spiritual. Of the true nature of that 
which is spiritual, we have neither observation nor 
analogy to guide us. We can only suppose that the 
spiritual body is that which will become so refined, 
and so ennobled, and so adapted to the spirit, as to 
raise it to a richer competency and a more glorious 
elevation. Of the competency of matter to etherealize 
we have many illustrations. Light is but the vibration 
of the molecules of matter. Music is but the impulsion 
of invisible atmospheric waves. The perfumes of 
herbs and flowers are but impalpable particles of 
matter, which are diffused in the atmosphere around 
us. The sensation of heat is occasioned by the simple 
disturbance of the material particles, of which the 



THE EESTTKKECTION OP THE DEAD. 217 

heated object is composed. Even on earth, then, ma- 
terial things are capable of appearing to us in forms 
that are impalpable and immaterial. Besides, that 
which was once peculiar to earth has already found 
an entrance into heaven. Enoch, while walking with 
God in the duties of external obedience, was ' trans- 
lated/ that he should not see death. Elijah, as he 
went on and talked, mounted the chariot of fire, and 
was rapt away to heaven. The Son of man ascended 
to the glory of His Father in all the proportions of 
our humanity, and He now stands there the pattern, 
as well as the Author, of His people's transformation. 
He shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned 
like unto His glorious body, according to the mighty 
working, whereby He is able to subdue all things to 
Himself. 

1 In this identic body I, 
With eyes of flesh refined, restored, 
Shall see that self-same Saviour nigh, 

See for myself my smiling Lord ; 
See with ineffable delight, 
Nor faint to bear the glorious sight. 

' Then let the worms demand their prey, 
The greedy grave my reins consume ; 

With joy I drop my mouldering clay, 
And rest till my Redeemer come. 

On Christ my life in death rely, 

Secure that I can never die.' 

Such, then, is the doctrine of Scripture on the 
subject of the resurrection. We pursue no specula- 
tion, we indulge no fancy : we only search for the 
mind of God concerning it. That Paul might attain 



218 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 



to this he pours out all the earnestness and puts 
forth all the effort of his soul. But let us notice — 

II. THE ACCOMPANIMENTS AND CONSEQUENCES WITH 
WHICH THIS HOPE HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED. 

In cherishing this expectation of the resurrection 
of the dead Paul hoped — 

1 . To possess the power of recognizing in heaven 
those with whom he had held holy fellowship on 
earth. Such recognition is divinely affirmed. But to 
many of you the fact may not have been presented 
that every passage of Scripture on which this truth is 
commonly supported stands in reference to the resur- 
rection of the dead. Not a word is said of such 
recognition in the case of merely disembodied spirits. 
Not that we deny the fact. It may be very properly 
inferred. But after all, this is only inference, — it is 
not a part of Scripture declaration. But how different 
are the declarations which explain the remembrances, 
the greetings of those who were associated on earth, 
when they shall meet at the last day. ' Knowing that 
He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us 
also by Jesus, and shall present us with you/ ' Then we 
which are alive and remain shall be caught up together 
with them (for whom we sorrowed) in the clouds, to 
meet the Lord in the air/ ' For what is our hope, or 
joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the 
presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming ? * 
When that which is perfect has come, then shall we 
see face to face, and know even as we are known. To 
realize this power and attain to this blessedness 
Paul yearned to be found ready for the resurrection of 
the dead. 



THE EESUEEECTION OF THE DEAD. 219 

But , again, Paul hoped by this — 

2. To become conformed to the image of Christ. 
Our future happiness has been made dependent upon 
our resemblance to Christ. The perfection of this 
conformity will constitute our bliss. Hence the royal 
exclamation, ' As for me, I will behold Thy face in 
righteousness : I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with 
Thy likeness ; 3 and hence also the apostolic congratula- 
tion, ' When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we 
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is/ It is 
not the simple maturity of moral resemblance, it is the 
likeness of His resurrection. After this likeness the 
apostle yearned. 

3. But again, he hoped by this resurrection to 
attain to the public and universal recognition of his 
piety before God. In this world the early saints 
were God's hidden ones. They were here unknown. 
The world hated them. When they died invisible 
were the angels which carried them to glory. 
Though their deaths were precious in the sight of God, 
no public honours were conferred upon them. There 
was no funereal triumph. There was no blowing of 
trumpets. Their departure was unobtrusive. They 
seemed to vanish from the world, and to steal away 
to bliss. Their memory may perish among men. 
Their dust is unrecorded. Yet their names are to be 
confessed. They shall yet shine forth as the sun. 
Before assembled worlds their allegiance shall be 
endorsed, and their piety attested. They are to be 
acknowledged and to be enrolled amongst the followers 
of the Lamb. But Paul knew that this blessedness was 
reserved until the morning of the resurrection. Hence 



220 



THE EESUKEECTION OF THE DEAD. 



his yearning desire that lie might attain to this 
distinction. And again — 

4. He hoped by this resurrection to attain to the 
honours which had been reserved for the saints. High 
honours are reserved for the ransomed ones above. 
They are to be participators in the honours of their 
glorified Redeemer. ' Where He is, there shall they 
be also/ They are to sit down on His throne, and to 
be glorified with His crown. That crown is furnished 
with all its circlets, it is studded with all its gems. 
Its glory already dazzles the believer. ' Henceforth/ 
he exclaims, ' there is laid up for me a crown of 
righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge 
shall give me at that day/ How shall the poor become 
enriched ! how shall the feeble be strengthened ! 
how shall the aged be renovated ! how shall the once 
despised be disabused ! To these rewards and honours 
the righteous are ever aspiring. Towards this end 
they earnestly seek, and they exultingly hail the 
resurrection. Theirs is an attitude of imploring 
earnestness. They are looking for that blessed hope, 
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our 
Saviour. They are looking for, and hastening unto, 
the coming of the day of God. c Behold, He cometh 
with clouds/ exclaims the Apocalyptic angel ! ' Even 
so, Amen/ responsively exclaims the Church. He 
saith, ' Surely I come quickly ! ' ' Amen. Even so, come, 
Lord Jesus/ with emphatic and joyful anticipation, 
respond the ransomed of the Lord. This is the high 
foresight with which they are inspired, the throbbing 
hope they can scarcely chasten, the onward speed they 
can ill restrain. 



THE EESUEEECTION OF THE DEAD. 221 



But what justifies all this vehemency of desire, 
this intensity of expectation ? 

1. It is the triumph of Christ. This is a hostile 
world, — all things are not yet put under Him. 

2. It is the redemption of the believer. ' Ye are 
bought with a price/ We shall live by Him. 

3. It is the restitution of our entire nature. God 
made us with a material conformation, as well as with 
an intellectual principle, &c. 

Notice — 

III. THE CONDUCT AND DETEEMINATION BY WHICH 
THIS HOPE IS TO BE SECUEED. 

1. Examination should be made. 

2. Prayer should be devoted to this attainment, 
2 Peter iii. 12. 

3. Anticipation should be cherished. 

4. Preparation should be secured. 

Then let us pause in our worldly work, and look 
to our own aspirations. What is our noblest object of 
ambition ? Not surely to gather apples of Sodom, 
which burst to dust and ashes on our lips ; not to 
follow painted bubbles which never yield us compensa- 
tion for our toil, and sweat, and pains ; not to waste 
and dawdle out a miserable existence, and then to 
plant a body in the grave, that shall shrivel and 
wither and decay, and then be raised to suffer 
eternally from the gnawing worm, and to burn in the 
remorseless anguish of an interminable hell. 

Heaven forbid that we who worship here to-night 
should only furnish fuel for the lake of fire. 

Look up, my fellow-sinners, to the cross. Redemp- 
tion there was purchased for us. We **need not 



222 



THE RESUREECTION OE THE DEAD. 



perish, for the Saviour died. Start this very night on 
a career of spiritual aspiration. Think how you may 
attain to the glory of the resurrection. Forbid not 
your spirits' emulation. Seek not only heaven, but 
the station nearest to the throne. Pause not even 
then. Secure a triumph for your dust. Plant in that 
grave on your dying day a body that shall prove a 
holy germ, a body that shall rise as seed-corn from 
the ground in the morning of the resurrection, and 
bring forth, as its own inherent fruit, glory, honour, 
and immortal life. 

Join with the solemn supplication of the poet — 

' Thou God of glorious majesty/ &c, Hymn 444. 



223 



SERMON IV. 

THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EAETH. 

c Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens 
and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.' — 2 Peter 
iii. 13. 

TnESE words transport us. They are words of 
high hope and self-congratulation. The hope is based 
on the recollection of a promise that has been made ; 
the self-congratulation rests upon the strength of 
faith. We believe, and therefore have we hope. 
The sentiment, however, is disjunctive. It is anti- 
thetical, and therefore, contrastive. Convulsive 
changes are anticipated. The heavens and the earth 
which are now are kept in store, they are reserved 
unto fire against the day of judgment, and the perdi- 
tion of ungodly men. 

But the day of the Lord will come, slowly, steadily, 
stealthily, as a thief in the night ; the heavens shall 
pass away convulsively with a great noise ; the ele- 
ments shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, 
and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up. 



224 



THE NEW HEAVENS 



( Nevertheless 9 — and here is the contrast, here is the 
antithesis, here is the basis of hope — c we, according 
to His promise, look for new heavens and a new 
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness/ 

Three things here commend themselves to our 
consideration : 

I. THE FIGURE EMPLOYED. 
II. THE FELICITY FORESHADOWED. 
III. THE FOUNDATION SET FORTH. 
I. THE FIGURE EMPLOYED. 

' We, according to His promise, look for new 
heavens and a new earth/ To the ancient prophets 
we are indebted for the primary employment of this 
terra-celestial phrase. Through Isaiah the Divine 
declaration comes down, f Behold, I create new heavens 
and a new earth ; 9 and again, ' The new heavens and 
the new earth which I make shall stand before me/ 
If the simple conversion of mankind to the true faith be 
meant by these words; if we are simply to under- 
stand them as gorgeous figures of speech, I can only 
say that they are marked by unwonted singularity. 
But whatever may have been their earlier meaning, 
there can be no doubt of their literal descriptiveness 
as employed in our text. If the old heavens and the 
old earth are to pass away, those that succeed them 
must be as real and as literal as those that shall have 
gone. Hence in the Apocalyptic scene John says, ' I 
saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first 
heaven and the first earth were passed away/ By 
the words before us, then, we are manifestly to under- 
stand the future state of the Church, the everlasting- 
condition of the glorified in heaven. 



AND THE NEW EAETH. 



225 



Heaven is a state. ' Blessed are the dead which die 
in the Lord.-' But it is also a place,, a city, a royal 
city, ' a city which hath foundations, whose builder and 
maker is God/ 

It is a kingdom. Its epochs, its chronicles, its 
monuments, its trophies, its riches, and its honours are 
worthy of its renown. 

But it is also an empire, vast and limitless, a 
celestial world, a new heaven and a new earth. As 
indicating the felicity of its inhabitants, we are told 
that God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; 
as figurative of its royal grandeur, we are told that 
' the kings of the earth do bring their glory and 
honour into it ; ' and as expressive of its calm and 
holy security it is said, c the gates shall not be shut at 
all by day/ 

Three things, then, are clear — 

1. The words of our text can have no prophetic 
reference to the Church on earth. 

The approaching event which they foreshadow is 
post-millennial. We look for the new heavens and 
the new earth, but not till the dead have been raised ; 
nay, not till the nations have been judged; nay, not 
till the heavens and the earth which are now have 
suffered calcination in the final fire. To the doctrines 
of the pre-millenarian advent our text gives no support. 
But again — 

2. These words have no mystic character. If in 
other places the heavens and the earth are symbolical 
of the righteous and the unregenerate, it cannot be so 
here. The new heavens and the new earth are not 
to be unequal and distinct departments, but one 

15 



226 



THE NEW HEAVENS 



perfect economy of holiness and bliss. And then 
again — 

3. These words cannot apply to any mere trans- 
formation of the present physical universe. That 
they have been frequently interpreted in this sense 
I know. Many of the most intelligent of our Bib- 
lical expositors believe that our future heaven and 
earth are to be sublimed and eliminated from our 
present ones. Their mode of reasoning is this. They 
say, ' Our earth was declared to have been destroyed 
when it was deluged/ This language, though very 
expressive, was yet hyperbolical. The earth was not 
literally destroyed. Though to some extent it was 
decomposed, yet it was really preserved. And in the 
same way the great fire, like the great flood, may 
transform, without utterly destroying, our present 
earth; that the earth, in fact, may emerge, renovated 
and purified from its great igneous experience, to be- 
come the scene of our future glory ; and that the new 
heavens may smile and brighten forth from the ashes 
of the old, to constitute a canopy for God and His 
saints. 

But many difficulties stand in the way of this 
hypothesis. To say nothing of the absurdity of so 
comparatively small a speck in the great and bound- 
less universe ever being made the everlasting 
temple of Grod and of His Church, there is, in the 
first place, the difficulty of comprehending how a 
globe of cinders could be made to harmonize with 
our anticipations of the glorious Paradise and the 
New Jerusalem ; there is, in the second place, the 
difficulty of understanding how (with our own earth's 



AND THE NEW EAETH. 



227 



rotation) the alternations of day and night could 
cease, and summer and winter, heat and cold, could 
be dispensed with ; there is, in the third place, the 
difficulty of explaining how, in that case, heaven could 
be that land which is now afar off, how those which 
are alive can be said to be caught up to meet their 
Lord in the air; how death can be properly designated 
a departure ; and with what consistency Christ could 
say, ' I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I 
will come again, and receive you to myself/ And there 
is, in the last place, the difficulty of believing that 
the great Maker of the universe could ever be induced 
to vacate the glorious home of the past eternity, for 
such a heaven as our earth could make. To believe 
that changes may be introduced to adapt the present 
heaven of glory to the final state and condition of its 
inhabitants is not a task of difficulty ; but to believe 
in such a descending transmigration as that already 
named is simply to trample on the rights of reason, 
and to act regardless of the authority of mind. 

But you ask, What necessity can there exist for 
new heavens and a new earth ? Why cannot the pre- 
sent heaven suffice for the introduction of the risen 
saints ? Is not that heaven already the home of the 
Incarnate Messiah ? Are not two embodied saints, 
also, already there ? To these interrogations it might 
suffice to reply, ' Thus hath the Lord spoken/ But 
another answer is available. Heaven, so far, has been 
chiefly the sphere of unmixed spiritual existences. 
They are all spirits who dwell there. That the present 
heaven is perfectly adapted to spiritual existence there 
can be no doubt, but that it is as perfectly adapted to 



228 



THE NEW HEAVENS 



corporeal existence may be fairly questioned. Sup- 
posing that the physical susceptibility is not as amply 
provided for as the spiritual, it is not difficult to infer the 
rest. When the archangel's trump shall "blow, and the 
spirits of the just shall have been embodied, the palace 
will need enriching as the dignity of the guest becomes 
augmented. More costly decorations are provided for 
the rooms of a royal prince than for those of an ordinary 
knight. Heaven at the present moment is not only 
a state of bliss, but also a state of suspense. Its 
happy spirits aspire to better things ; they yearn 
towards the gloriousness of the great hereafter. 
That consummation which is never doubted is yet 
delayed. The new heavens and the new earth will 
terminate their suspense, and will fill their expecta- 
tions. They will form a compound state exactly 
adapted to the spirit's necessities. While the old 
heaven was adapted to the spirit only, the new heaven 
will meet the necessities both of the body and the 
soul. In the exordium of the Pentateuch we read that 
God created the heavens and the earth. The roof 
and floor made up but one creation. That creation, 
now, is our abode. But while thaHs destined to pass 
away, there shall spring up a new earth for the 
habitation of the redeemed ; and that earth shall be 
covered with a new celestial canopy. ' For we/ says 
Peter, c according to His promise, look for new heavens 
and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness/ 

Having seen the meaning of the figure employed, 
let us next notice — 

II. THE FELICITY FOKESHADOWED. 

That felicity is embodied in the text. It may be 



AND THE NEW EARTH. 



229 



true that the day of vengeance will appear ; but that 
day has no terror for our souls. We anticipate its 
coming, we hail its approach. Every step in the 
progress of its advent and every sign of its drawing 
near are so many heralds of our own advancing glory, 
for we look for a new residence, brighter than the 
existing heavens, and more lovely than the present 
earth ■ a pavilion, having a firmament for its curtain 
and a world for its foundation, one of richer texture 
than the star-woven skies, and the other of firmer 
stability than the everlasting hills. 

How appropriate these symbols ! How enriching 
and refreshing ! How glorious the contrast betwixt 
that which is new and that which is obsolete, that 
which is advancing and that which is receding ! How 
great and wonderful are the heavens above our heads ! 
How they refine the imagination which wanders 
through them ! How they attune, as with their own 
music, the minstrelsy which sings of them ! How 
they enlarge the inquiry which studies them ! They 
are made for meditation. While man gazes upon 
them his spirit seems to mingle with them and to 
grow up into them. What is so far above a man, so 
unutterably high, so dazzling, so vast, so alluring as the 
heavens ? that arch, studded with its orbs, and 
garnished with its constellations ; its mighty expanse, 
its gorgeous mechanism, its harmonious order, 
now like a symbolical web, then a regal embroidery ; 
now like an embossed shield, then a molten mirror ; 
now like the cupola of a temple, then like the pave- 
ment of a palace. ( The heavens declare the glory of 
God, and the firmament showeth His handywork/ 



230 



THE NEW HEAVENS 



The clouds of heaven are delectably marvellous. How 
rich are the reflections of their endless dyes ! How 
manifold in beauty are their variegated forms ! At 
one time they sleep as the lake, at another they surge 
as the sea. Here they unfold into the peaceful arbour, 
there they stand embattled as the host. They seem 
to form into a land of their own. Theirs is the 
birthplace of the rainbow, the womb of the morning, 
the pathway of the sun, the portal of paradise, and the 
trophied bier of departing day. We were created to 
look upward, and the heavens tell the reason, for they 
are type and symbol of and pathway to our ever- 
lasting rest. 

And then look to the earth beneath. Is not ours 
a wonderful world ? Sin-stained, it is true, and full of 
iniquity, but still intact in its original outline. How 
manifold are its charms ! The flowers of Eden still grow 
wild, the fountains of paradise still run truant. How 
obedient is its soil ! How tractable its inferior forms 
of life ! How plentiful its gratifications ! What 
melodies are in its woods and waters ! What richness 
in its dawn and sunset ! How spring walks forth and 
renews the face of nature ! How she scatters her 
blossoms and paints her lilies, and makes the little 
hills rejoice ! How autumn crowns the year with 
goodness and scatters out plenty from her horn ! How 
she gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 
and makes the trees of the field to clap their hands ! 

But refulgent as is the concave above us, and ex- 
uberant as is the earth beneath our feet, they do not 
satisfy our souls' desires. We therefore look for new 
heavens and a new earth — heavens that shall rest upon 



AND THE NEW EARTH. 



231 



their own moveless pillars, and be infinitely more 
august and beautiful than those they supersede ; and 
earth that shall be so much more lovely and durable 
than the present state, as Eden was more lovely than 
the wasted desert, and as the spirit is more enduring 
than the dissolving tabernacle in which it dwells. In 
that firmament there shall be no storm, no blight, no 
scathe. ' Neither shall the sun light upon us, nor any 
heat/ And that earth ! no violence shall be found in 
it. Its inhabitants shall not say, ' I am sick : ' they 
shall be as the angels of God. It is the realm of end- 
less life. But let us notice a few of the characteris- 
tics of this future state. 

1. It is evidently a great system of vitality. Our 
present scene is one of vital existence. There is 
scarcely a spot where such existence may not be found. 
The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the earth 
we tread upon, are all crowded with various forms of 
life. Bat he who was last created is the greatest 
of all earthly creatures. To him they are all tributary. 
His creation alone can explain the reason for the exist- 
ence of the rest. 

For, thus saith the Lord, that created the heavens, 
God Himself that formed the earth and made it : He 
hath established it, He hath created it not in vain, He 
formed it to be inhabited. Rest assured, then, that 
the new heavens and the new earth shall not be the 
less inhabited. The central figure in the present 
state shall be the central figure there. That land 
shall never be forsaken of its inhabitants. They are 
immortal as itself. The new heavens and the new 
earth would be bereft of every purpose which their 



232 



THE NEW HEAVENS 



names suggest if they were not full of life angelic, in- 
telligent, and immortal. 

Again, the future state here spoken of is — 
2. Evidently a material state. The world in which 
we dwell, with its appendages of circumambient air 
and supernal light, is a material fabric; it strictly 
conforms to all the laws, and completely develops all 
the properties, of material subsistence. All is extended, 
resistive, measurable, holding undivided and undis- 
placed position. Whatever is material must be re- 
lated to space. It is somewhere. Take it away, and 
it leaves a proportionate void. Our only experience 
of matter is in its tangibleness, while of space the 
heavens and the earth furnish our only notion. When, 
therefore, the new heavens and the new earth are 
formed, they must be material, and related to space, 
or they can have no existence. We should refine 
away, we should subtilize into vagueness, all our most 
cherished and realized conceptions, were we to think of 
the great future simply as a state of being. A state 
of existence supposes a being who is the subject of it. 
He cannot be and not be at the same time. A created 
being cannot be omnipresent. He must therefore be 
related by some law to a particular material condition 
and to a particular point in space. The new heavens 
and the new earth must therefore correspond to the 
tangible things above and around us. They may, in- 
deed, consist of a high and attenuated materialism, 
answering to the idea of the spiritual body ; they may 
be less gross and obtrusive than anything with which 
we are at present acquainted ; but still they must be 
truly and unquestionably material. 



AND THE NEW EARTH. 



233 



Again, the future state here spoken of shall — 

3. Evidently bear the impress of its own Creator. 
The visible works of God are the means by which in- 
telligent creatures rise in thought to the knowledge of 
His character and perfections. His works are at once 
the monuments of His existence and the proofs of His 
power. 'For the invisible things of Him from the 
creation of the world are clearly seen, being under- 
stood by the things that are made/ His wisdom and 
benignity are beheld in all His works. Heaven and 
earth everywhere multiply and vary the proofs of His 
bounty and power. When, therefore, we read of the 
new heavens and the new earth, we cannot fail to infer 
that they, like the old ones, will bear the stamp of the 
glory of their infinite Creator. If it were possible to 
obliterate the present manifestations of that glory, it 
could only be that they might be rewritten in more 
resplendent and indelible characters. The operations 
of the Divine power can never be forgotten amidst the 
higher proceedings of the Divine government ; but 
in the new heavens, as in the old earth, the voices 
of the multitude, as the voice of many waters, will 
be heard reverberating in one grand, sweet song, 
' Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Al- 
mighty. Just and true are Thy ways, thou King of 
saints. 

But again, this future shall be — 

4. Evidently one of limitless and universal fellow- 
ship. The communion of saints is now a great and 
soul-refreshing fact. But this communion is very 
limited. The saints are scattered abroad. They do 
not dwell in the earth. 



234 THE NEW HEAVENS 

' Strangers and pilgrims here below, 
This earth we know is not our place ; 

But hastening through this vale of woe, 
And restless to behold thy face, 

Swift to our heavenly country move, 

Our everlasting home above.' 

There is here no sucli tiling as perfect and limitless 
communion. Many of the Church's brightest orna- 
ments are gone. Her candlesticks are being continu- 
ally removed. Old companies have been gathered to 
their fathers ; new and still newer companies appear 
in the places they have left. All are hastening to one 
place. But the time of the full gathering has not 
come. Excepting in the case of the first family, there 
never has been, and there never can be, a complete 
meeting on the present side of Jordan. But the new 
heavens and the new earth shall comprehend them all. 
God hath prepared a habitation for all His ransomed 
children. Not one of them shall be found wanting in 
that day. Grandsires and grandchildren, patriarchs 
and prophets, apostles and martyrs, they whose spirits 
have peacefully melted into heaven, and they who 
have forced their way through seas of blood and flames 
of fire, shall all be found at last, commingling their 
souls in the joys of a limitless and enduring fellowship. 
How refreshing, then, the pilgrim's aspiration — 

c Let cares like a wild deluge come, 

And storms of sorrow fall, 
May I but safely reach my home, 
My God, my heaven, my all. 



AND THE NEW EARTH. 



235 



c There shall I bathe my weary soul 

In seas of heavenly rest, 
And not a wave of trouble roll 
Across my heavenly breast.' 

Having, then, seen the figure employed and the 
felicity foreshadowed, we come now in the third and 
last place to notice — 

III. THE FOUNDATION SET FORTH. 

The story is one of culminating joy. Its essence 
is this, — we live in hope of a happier state. Old 
things are to pass away, and all things are to be made 
new. But this hope of future felicity is based upon a 
broad foundation. It is a foundation of promises. 
With the ancient Abraham God entered into a cove- 
nant containing promises of more than earthly kind, — 
from him was to descend a spiritual seed. That seed 
found not their rest on earth, and therefore they 
looked for a ' better, and a heavenly country.-' Be- 
neath that broad covenant we plead our right. Like 
Abraham, we believe in the Lord, and He counteth it 
to us for righteousness ; and therefore, like him, we 
take the ancient warrant, which no time can either 
impair or cancel ; and we, like him and his posterity, 
look for new heavens and a new earth. 

Many are the quotations that we might give from 
the prophets in the metaphor and language of our 
text. But they all contain this thought, and they are 
all the earnest of this hope. The declarations come 
rolling down from all the earlier ages of the Church's 
history, swelling like new visions, always the more 
defined and aggrandized as they are more expanded, 
till they all combine, like the colours of the solar spec- 



236 



THE NEW HEAVENS 



trum, in one complete and glorions pledge; and ' we, 
according to His promise, look for new heavens and a 
new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.'' 

The promises of God are great and glorious. They 
are all yea, and amen. Their compass and variety are 
as ample as are the exigencies they are designed to 
meet. They pass on from age to age unexhausted, 
and those of one dispensation are transmitted to 
another in larger meaning and in wider scope. The 
original testament is cleared by new codicils and is 
enriched by more munificent bequests. Having these 
promises, we thread on our earthly journey prepared 
for every exigency and instructed for every strait. 

A British poet describing the man of Christian in- 
tegrity, says, ' That were a crumbling world to burst 
around him, the fragments would strike him undis- 
mayed.'' But while we read our text this fiction be- 
comes reality ; the glowing imagination turns pale and 
faint in the presence of a living fact. ' Here we see/ 
says one, ' the Christian triumphing amidst the ruins 
of the universe. He has long awaited the catastrophe. 
But now it comes ! It brings no surprise, it excites 
no terror. He looks upon it with calmness and com- 
posure. It as much fulfils his desires as it agrees with 
his expectations. He now sees that his hopes are 
consummated and his prayers are heard. He knew 
that it must come. 

' But what a scene is that which the Christian wel- 
comes. The trumpet peals its most piercing clangour ; 
the heavens are lighted up, and blaze with intensest 
fury ; the mountains are heaped into cinder ; the 
forests lie scathed and blackened with the scorching 



AND THE NEW EAETH. 



237 



flame ; the seas evaporate ; the skies burn ; the orbs 
of heaven rush from their tracks and kindle with 
the devouring element ; the sun is turned into dark- 
ness,, and the moon into blood ; the stars fall. Oh, 
the crash of those jostling worlds ! the roar of those 
devouring flames ! the outburst of those liberated 
thunders ! Oh, that furnace, that storm, that blast of 
fire ! What a marvel of horrors is here. What could 
be more terrible ? What could fan into wilder vehe- 
mence the awfulness of that hour ? What could 
heighten the pomps of that great and terrible day of 
the Lord ? There is only one thing that can be more 
sublime than these material prodigies, and that is the 
calm confidence and the holy heroism of the Christian 
in that hour. There is only one thing that rises in 
grandeur and glory above all the rest, and that is the 
unshaken, the untrembling saint, looking for it, 
hastening to it, calmly gazing on it.' 

1 The great archangel's trump shall sound, 
While twice ten thousand thunders roar ; 
Tear up the graves and cleave the ground, 
And make the greedy sea restore.' 

And we are looking for these things. To this 
promise we hope to come. It is the goal of our anti- 
cipated bliss. It is the bound of our future change. 
All may sink beneath us. All may perish round us. 
We may hear Nature's last groans. We may behold 
Creation's dying embers — the trump of God may have 
ceased to sound. ' Nevertheless we, according to His 
promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein 
dwelleth righteousness.'' 



238 THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH. 

To the believer, then, we say, Stand fast, serve 
Christ, work for humanity, cherish hope, and the day 
will declare the wisdom of your choice. 

To the sinner we have only one warning word. 
Trifle on, and then the terrors of the last day will find 
thee Godless, Christless, heavenless. Resolved to live 
without the Christian's hope, thou shalt stand in terror 
and dismay when earth is wrecked and worlds are 
crushed. As in this earth all thy hopes are centred, so 
with its destruction must they perish. A living soul 
with perished hope ! May God in mercy save us from 
that terminus, and grant His blessing with His word, 
for Christ's sake. Amen. 



239 



MR BAXTER, LOUIS NAPOLEON, 
THE COMING STRUGGLE, 

AND 

CHRIST'S SECOND ADVENT: 

A LECTURE DELIVERED IN THE METHODIST NEW CONNEXION CHURCH, 
FRANKLIN STREET, ADELAIDE, SEPTEMBER 11, 1866, THE HON. T. 
MAGAREY IN THE CHAIR, AND SUBSEQUENTLY IN THE ASSEMBLY 
ROOM, KING WILLIAM STREET. 

The subject I have to present for your consider- 
ation this evening is one that is just now exciting 
extraordinary attention. With more poetry than pre- 
cision it has been said that human life is made up of 
three great epochs, — yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow. 
Yesterday, like 

1 The pale blue smoke, rising from a peasant's hovel, 
That melted into limpid air before it topped the larches/ 

is already a thing of the past. It has dropped into 
oblivion, and few persons care to renew the remorses 
which its memories would awaken. To-day is the 
watchword of angels, the weft of which the web of life 
is manufactured, the thread on which the pearls of 



240 



chkist's second advent, etc. 



human blessedness are strung. But it is also the 
moment of man's greatest anguish. He reaps in 
suffering to-day what he sowed in sin and folly yester- 
day. The solicitudes of doubt, the rackings of care, 
and the bitterness of disappointment, have all to be 
endured to-day. To-day, then — the ever-present, 
drab, sober, prosy to-day — is a thing that few men 
care about. Carry them anywhere — within themselves, 
without themselves, beyond themselves; carry them 
in any direction, only carry them from the sorrows of 
to-day. To escape these is their chief solicitude. But 
to-morrow is the grand catholicon for the ills of life. 
Who is there that dreams not of to-morrow ? To- 
morrow is the glittering rainbow of mercy which brings 
hope to the bosoms of the disconsolate. To-morrow 
is the paradise of illusion where fools are hoping to 
rest. To-morrow is the inexhaustible bottle whence 
topers obtain their supplies. To-morrow is the 
beautiful empyrean in which castles so quickly get 
built. To-morrow is the magical mirror into which 
all have a craving to look, and before which all take 
delight to be seen. We all desire to know something 
of to-morrow. The yearning is instinctive. From the 
untutored savage, watching the motions of the clouds, 
to the Grecian sage before the oracle of Delphi ; from 
the blushing maiden of sweet sixteen, interrogating 
the old gipsy hag, to the modern expositor of ' oracles 
divine ' — none can plead exemption from this weak- 
ness. But wherever there are dupes there will be 
agents of duplicity. Supply is always regulated by 
demand. Hence there have been magicians, sooth- 
sayers, astrologers, wizards, witches, and fortune- 



Christ's second advent, etc. 



241 



tellers in every age. Nor are such, impostors likely 
soon to disappear. Religion and education have done 
much towards banishing ignorance and superstition 
from, the world, but so long as the knowledge of the 
future continues so strangely fascinating, so long will 
men be made the victims of their hopes and fears. On 
this principle alone can we account for the sensation 
every now and then excited by a small class of men 
who pretend to see into futurity, and who appear to 
make a pretty fair living out of the excitement they 
create. 

THE SECOND COMING OP CHRIST. 

To the sincere and humble student of God's Sacred 
Word who may reach conclusions different from my 
own, I would pay my profoundest homage. On no 
man has a monopoly of wisdom been conferred. But 
to those pretentious theological fortune-tellers, who 
are distinguished for nothing but for the brazen bold- 
ness with which they distort and shuffle texts of Scrip- 
ture, I confess that I have no respect to render. These 
prophetic quacks are perpetually startling the world 
with their exciting crotchets. It is well known that 
the Book of Inspiration abounds in glowing language 
descriptive of the extension of Christ's Kingdom and 
of His second advent to our world. His Kingdom is to 
be ' an everlasting kingdom ; 5 His people are to be 
f all righteous ; 9 He is called c the Lord the Righteous 
Judge;' He is to appear 'the second time;' to 
' descend from heaven with a shout ; ' to ' separate the 
.sheep from the goats ; ' to ' be glorified in His saints, 
-and to be admired in all them that believe ; ' to ' bring 

16 



242 



cheist's second advent, etc. 



to light the hidden things of darkness ; 3 to c render to 
every man according to his works ; 3 and ' to take 
vengeance on them that know not God/ 

This language is as beautifully figurative as it is 
boldly descriptive. It tells of the spiritual triumphs 
of Christ and of His final advent as our Judge. Bnt 
the time and the manner of His reappearing have been 
subjects of much misapprehension. Scarcely had His 
last accents melted away on the ears of His disciples, 
and His footprints faded from the hills of Bethany, 
when the cry, c Lo, here is Christ ! ' was heard. Since 
then that cry has frequently been renewed, sometimes 
by sincere but mistaken enthusiasts, at other times by 
clever but designing men. Just before the end of the 
tenth century the people were taught that the Mil- 
lennium was to be calculated from the birth of Christ, 
and was at that very time drawing to a close ; that on 
its termination Satan would be set free, and, after a 
short season of triumph to the enemies of the Church, 
the last judgment would take place, and the world 
would be consumed in the final conflagration. Such 
was the startling effect of this teaching that multitudes 
forsook their homes, and fled to the city of Jerusalem, 
where they expected to see Christ set up His throne 
and begin the work of judgment. In order, however, 
that they might meet with personal clemency at His 
hands, they were usually persuaded by their priests 
before their departure to make over their property to 
some neighbouring monastery. The panic that 
ensued was terrible, but the catastrophe did not come. 
The impoverished victims had therefore to return to 
their homes to ponder in sadness the cost of their 



chkist's second advent, etc. 



243 



wisdom, and for many following years the augmented 
revenues of the Church bore testimony alike to the 
magnitude of the panic, and to the richness of the 
harvest its promoters had secured. 

About the middle of the 16th century another 
great excitement was created • this time by a set of 
foolish enthusiasts, who called themselves Millenarians, 
or Fifth Monarchy men. These people expected 
Christ immediately and personally to appear to estab- 
lish a new monarchy in the world. They believed 
that He would appoint them as His personal deputies 
in the government of His kingdom. Some of them 
even went so far as to give up their own Christian 
names, and to assume others befitting their anticipated 
station ; and great was their disappointment when 
they found that no King came to require their services, 
and no kingdom arose to be ruled. 

In 1832 we had another widespread panic. But 
this time it was science that misled theology. The 
comet of Biela, the world was told, was to cross the 
orbit of the earth, and to bring on the grand cata- 
strophe. Numbers of people in France forsook their 
homes, and fled to other countries, where they expected 
to escape the pulverizing shock. Fortunately, how- 
ever, the earth happened to be on the contrary side of 
its orbit, when the comet crossed. The predicted 
catastrophe, therefore, once more disappointed the 
panic-mongers, to the very great joy of sundry little 
children and very nervous people. 

But from this time the prognosticators of evil began 
to multiply. Shortly before the year 1840 the United 
States of America caught the Millenarian infection. 



t 



244 Christ's second advent, etc. 

For three years the epidemic raged with increasing 
violence. The people were told with all the confidence 
that is customary in such cases, that 1843 was to be 
the year of the Saviour's appearance. Numbers of 
weak-minded people believed the story, and laid 
aside their ordinary avocations in anticipation of 
meeting their descending Lord. Several shiploads of 
this class went from England and other parts of the 
world to be present in America at the moment of the 
advent, and seventeen persons in one State alone went 
mad with the excitement. 

me Fleming's predictions. 

Shortly before the year 1848 another Millenarian 
crisis was predicted. About 166 years ago the Rev. 
Eobert Flemings then an eminent Presbyterian minister 
in London, published a book on the Rise and Fall of the 
Papacy, in which he made several singular conjectures 
in connection with prophecy. He distinctly said, ' I 
pretend to give my speculations of what is future no 
higher character than guesses, seeing that no man can 
pretend on any just grounds to calculate future times/ 
He then proceeded to show from the words of prophecy 
that, according to his reasoning, c the French Mon- 
archy would begin to be considerably humbled about 
the year 1794/ and that ' about the year 1848 the 
Papacy would be very likely to be very considerably 
weakened.' Now the French Revolution, resulting in 
the overthrow of the French Monarchy, took place in 
the year 1789; that was about five years before the 
time that Mr Fleming conjectured it would begin tohe 
humbled. 3 There is some difficulty in seeing any very 



cheist's second advent,, etc. 



245 



extraordinary fulfilment of prophecy in this. Between 
the words of Mr Fleming and the facts of French 
history the agreement is so slight that it can scarcely 
be designated a partial coincidence. Still there were 
persons who believed Mr Fleming to be a correct 
interpreter of prophecy, and who concluded that as 
he had rightly predicted the French Kevolution — 
though he did nothing of the kind — so he must have 
rightly predicted the weakening of the Papacy, and 
the other premonitions of the second advent in 1848. 
To this year, therefore, the eyes of our Millenarian 
friends were directed as the certain harbinger of the 
coming of Christ. Books were written, pamphlets 
were published, passages of Scripture having no con- 
nection with each other were fitted together, and 
historical facts were twisted and distorted in every 
possible way im expectation of the Millennium, but still 
it would not come. In spite, however, of these disap- 
pointments there was reason for hope. As there was 
a difference of some eighteen years between lunar and 
prophetical time, it was just possible that the inter- 
preters had made the wrong selection. True, Mr 
Fleming and the French Revolution in that case would 
have to go overboard, but that was a trifling consider- 
ation. Fastidiousness is out of the question with 
drowning men. To 1848, then, eighteen years have 
now been added, and during the present year of 1866, 
nine months of which have nearly passed away, the 
Millennium is expected to begin. A few years, more 
or less, however, cannot now be a matter of so much 
importance ; and, as the stating of another precise 
period might lead to inconvenience, our friends have 



246 _ Christ's second advent, etc. 



wisely allowed themselves a little further margin. 
With, great confidence they now assert that some time 
between 1866 and 1873 the bombshell of God's wrath 
will burst amongst the nations, and Christ will come 
to take possession of His own. 

From 1843 the period of consolation extended to 
1848, then it was stretched to 1866, now it is carried 
to 1873, and when that period expires our visionary 
friends, already driven from pillar to post, will, no 
doubt, fall back upon another favourite period, and 
tell us that the Millennium has now been postponed till 
the end of the present century. All this reminds one 
of the celebrated comet prediction in Moore's Almanac 
for 1818. The writer said, ' A few years before or a 
few years after the appearance of a comet, extraordin- 
ary changes and unexpected events maybe looked for, 
more or less/ If this prediction failed it was not the 
fault of him who uttered it. He took room enough 
in which to maintain his reputation, and this seems to 
be the present policy of all those political time-keepers 
who persist, in spite of past mischances, in notching 
the wheels of the world's chronometer. 

THE COMING STRUGGLE. 

In 1851 a Dr Thomas, of America, started a new 
theory on the subject of Old and New Testament 
prophecy. That theory was taken up and popularized 
in England by the author of a pamphlet called ' The 
Coming Struggle/ which excited an immense sensa- 
tion in its day. I only need enumerate its leading 
features to exhibit its absurdity. But it served its 
purpose. One hundred thousand copies were sold, in 



chkist's second advent, etc. 



247 



five months, at a shilling each. In a short time after- 
wards the author was enabled to build himself a beau- 
tiful house, and he is believed to have enriched him- 
self through the writing of that extraordinary book. 
In it he announced that Bavaria, Lombardy, Hungary, 
Greece, Sardinia, Naples, Portugal, Spain, France, and 
Belgium were all to be completely shattered, if not 
entirely destroyed, before the end of the present year. 
Russia, in the great war for which sheVas then prepar- 
ing, was to march into Constantinople and to take pos- 
session of Turkey in spite of the resistance of England 
and France. France was immediately afterwards to 
overthrow the ' bloody house of Austria/ and to annex 
the Austrian territories to her own. Then a great 
battle was to be fought between Gog, who was the 
Emperor of Russia, and Magog, the Emperor of 
France. Gog was to triumph over Magog, and all 
the Rulers of Europe were to fall before his power. 
To resist the inroads of this great usurper Britain had 
now to restore the Jews to their own land, and to 
plant a British colony in Palestine. But Nicholas was 
at once to lay siege to the Holy City and to conquer 
it, when England should appeal to America for help, 
and the great rush to Armageddon should begin. 

c Meanwhile/ says the writer, ( Britain has been 
making strenuous efforts to stop the progress of this 
gigantic Napoleon ; and every soldier that can be 
spared is sent away in the direction of the rising sun. 
But what can the British army do against such a host 
as the Russian autocrat has around him ? Brave as 
the officers and men may be, what success or what re- 
nown can be gained in such an unequal conflict ? In 



248 



Christ's second advent, etc. 



the critical emergency the parent island sends a cry 
across the Atlantic, ( Come over and help us.' Swiftly 
is the sound borne over the waves, and soon an 
answering echo is wafted back from the shores of 
Columbia. The cause is common, and the struggle 
must be common too. ' We are coming, brother John, 
we are coming/ is the noble reply ; and almost ere it 
is delivered, a fleet of gallant vessels is crossing the 
Atlantic, with the stars and stripes gleaming on every 
mast. Another force is on its way from the far south, 
and soon the flower and strength of the Anglo-Saxon 
race meet on the sacred soil of Palestine. The intel- 
ligence of their approach reaches the sacrilegious 
usurper, and he leads forth his army towards the 
mountains that rise in glory round about Jerusalem. 
The Jews within the city now arm themselves, and 
join the army that has come from the east and west, 
the north and south, for their protection, and thus 
these two mighty masses meet face to face, and pre- 
pare for the greatest physical battle that ever was 
fought on this struggling earth. On the one side the 
motley millions of Eussia and the nations of Conti- 
nental Europe are drawn up on the slopes of the hills 
and the sides of the valleys toward the north ; while 
on the other are ranged the thousands of Britain and 
her offspring, from whose firm and regular ranks gleam 
forth the dark eyes of many of the sons of Abraham, 
determined to preserve # their newly-recovered city, or 
perish, like their ancestors of a former age, in its ruins. 
All is ready. That awful pause which takes place be- 
fore the shock of battle reigns around, but ere it is 
broken by the clash of meeting arms, and while yet 



Christ's second advent, etc. 



249 



the contending parties are at a little distance from 
each other, a strange sound is heard overhead. The 
time for the visible manifestation of God's vengeance 
has arrived, His fury has come up in His face, and He 
calls for a sword against Gog throughout all the moun- 
tains. 'Tis the voice of the Lord that breaks the 
solemn stillness, and startles the assembled hosts. 
The scene that follows baffles description. Amid 
earthquakes and showers of fire the bewildered 
and maddened armies of the autocrat rush, sword in 
hand, against each other, while the Israelites and their 
Anglo-Saxon friends gaze on the spectacle with amaze- 
ment and consternation. It does not appear that they 
will even lift their hand against that foe which they 
had come so far to meet. Their aid is not necessary 
to accomplish the destruction of the image. The 
stone cut without hands shall fall on its feet, and 
break them to pieces, and then shall the iron, the clay, 
the brass, the silver, and the gold, become like the 
chaff of the summer threshing-floor, and the wind shall 
carry them away/ 

What a pity that so beautiful a picture should 
vanish in falsehood and smoke. It is now a matter 
of history that the majority of the doomed kingdoms 
have neither been shattered nor destroyed ; that Rus- 
sia did not march into Constantinople ; that France 
did not annex Austria ; that Nicholas, long since dead, 
did not become the monarch of the world ; that Britain 
has not planted a colony in Palestine ; that Russia has 
not laid siege to Jerusalem ; that Britain has not ap- 
pealed to America for help ; that the fraternal cry> 
' We are coming, brother John, we are coming/- has 



250 



chjrist's second advent, etc. 



not yet been heard ; and that the so-called battle of 
Armageddon has not yet been fought. "We may 
therefore be permitted for a little longer time to 
breathe freely, to thank God, and take courage. 

TEE coming battle. 

As, however, the coming struggle did not come, 
another writer from the land of sensationalism has 
just startled the world from its propriety by the story 
of a coming battle. It would not have answered to 
have adopted the old title in the new book, because, 
though the story paid very well, it rather hopelessly 
broke down ; and yet it would not do to depart too 
far from the old form, because that was manifestly a 
successful hit. Hence, we have ' The Coming Battle ' 
published as a fitting sequel to ( The Coming Struggle/ 
Both are American in their origin, both are based 
upon the same passages of Scripture, both are written 
in a style of brazen boldness, and both deal recklessly 
with well-known facts. The principal difference be- 
tween ( The Comino; Struggle 3 and c The Coining; 
Battle ' is, that one makes the Emperor Nicholas the 
Antichrist, while the other confers that honour on 
Louis Napoleon ; and one makes England and America 
to escape the great political wreck that is said to be 
portending, while the other involves both in the uni- 
versal ruin. Each mounts his hobby with a determin- 
ation to make it go, and each rides on in spite of all 
reason and all probability. That the writer in each case 
may believe what he teaches, is very possible, but that 
the general tendency of such sensational productions 
is favourable to the interests of religion I emphatically 



CHEIST'S second advent, etc. 



251 



deny. The gain is more than twenty times over- 
balanced by the loss. Whatever of spiritual impulse 
the Church may gain by sensational agency has to be 
most bitterly paid for in the terrible and sceptical re- 
action that invariably follows. Besides, the mental 
mischief that arises in such cases is often utterly irre- 
parable. How many persons in this colony have be- 
come insane through reading such books as 'The 
Coming Battle ' it is impossible at present to estimate, 
but it is well known that four persons have recently 
left Adelaide for England under circumstances which 
can only be explained on the principle of mental im- 
pairment. One of these persons calls himself the 
leader of the saints of the Most High God, to whom 
will be given the kingdom and dominion. He tells 
us that he has gone home to be present at 12 o' clock, 
on Monday morning, October 22nd, in Grey Friars' 
Churchyard, Edinburgh, to challenge the God of 
Heaven to raise the martyred dead, and to see the 
crown of Scotland placed upon the head of the de- 
scending Saviour. He has already appointed a gentle- 
man of this city to be hairdresser to Jesus Christ the 
second, and has, I believe, made other appointments 
of a similar character. Whether he will be able to 
reach Edinburgh by the 22nd of next month I am not 
prepared to say ; but I have been informed, on pretty 
good authority, that when he and his three compan- 
ions reach King George's Sound the scantiness of 
their exchequer will compel them to rely upon the 
bounty of Providence for the payment of their passage 
for the rest of their journey. The sequel to this story 
has since developed itself. It is now well known that 



252 



cheist's second advent, etc. 



Providence failed the crazy pilgrims at the end of the 
first twelve hundred miles. One of them has since 
found means to return to this colony, and it is under- 
stood that the rest would be quickly on his heels if 
money were only as plentiful in King George's Sound 
as folly appears at one time to have been in Adelaide. 

A poor woman in the neighbourhood of Glenelg 
refuses to have her dilapidated washing tub repaired 
upon the ground that it will only be needed for a few 
weeks longer ; and a poor man who hawks vegetables 
about the country recently called at my house to ex- 
press his astonishment that the world should be so 
blind to its own real interest as not to see that Christ 
had already appeared; in fact, he assured me that he 
was the Christ, although he was then engaged in the 
humble avocation of selling— turnips ! 

Now all this would be very amusing were it not 
for the saddening reflections which spring from the 
story. But when we reflect that these poor people 
are victimized by an excitement that is as fictitious in 
its character as it is destitute of real utility, one feels 
too sad to laugh at their follies. 

THE VISION OF DANIEL. 

But let us examine for a few moments the real 
basis of this excitement. It is well known that there 
are in the Old and New Testament Scriptures three 
or four prophetical pictures, which are so elaborately 
figurative, so profoundly symbolical, and yet so 
remarkably identical in their general characteristics, 
that their interpretation has always been a source of 



cheist's second advent, etc. 



253 



difficulty to Biblical expositors. The first of these is 
the well-known vision of the prophet Daniel. In that 
vision Daniel beheld four great beasts come up from 
the sea. The first was like a lion, and had eagles' 
wings ; the second was like a bear, with three ribs in 
its mouth, and it raised up itself on one side ; the 
third was like a leopard, having upon its back the 
four wings of a fowl ; and the fourth had great iron 
teeth — it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped 
the residue with the feet of it, and it was diverse 
from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten 
horns : and behold there came up among them another 
little horn, in which were eyes like the eyes of a man, 
and a mouth speaking great things. And Daniel was 
told that the four great beasts were four kings which 
should arise out of the earth ; the fourth beast was to 
be the fourth kingdom, which was to be diverse from 
all other kingdoms, and should devour the whole 
earth, and tread it down, and break it in pieces. And 
the ten horns were ten kings which should arise out 
of this kingdom, and another should arise that should 
be diverse from the first, and who should subdue three 
kings. Then we read : — ' He shall speak great words 
against the most High, and shall wear out the saints 
of the most High, and think to change times and 
laws, and they shall be given into his hand until a 
time and times and the dividing of time. But the 
judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his 
dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. 
And the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of 
the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to 
the people of the saints of the most High, whose 



254 



chkist's second advent,, etc. 



kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions 
shall serve and obey Him/ 

A great many methods of interpreting this vision 
have been attempted. Some interpreters suppose 
that the four beasts denote the four kings, Xebuchad- 
nezzar, Evil-Merodach, Belshazzar, and Cyrus ; others 
suppose that the first beast is the Babylonish- Chaldean 
kingdom, the second, the Medish empire, the third, 
the Persian, and the fourth, the Grecian empire. But 
the most commonly accepted interpretation is that 
which supposes that the first beast denotes the 
Chaldean kingdom, the second, the Medo-Persian 
empire, the third, the Greek empire under Alexander 
and his successors, and the fourth, the Roman 
empire. But even this interpretation has had a 
variety of modifications, especially in reference to 
the meaning of the ten horns and the little horn that 
sprang up amongst them. Some suppose the fourth 
kingdom to be the Roman empire under the Caesars, 
the ten horns to be a succession of the ten Regents, 
and the little horn to be Julius Caesar. Others sup- 
pose the ten horns to refer to ten kings or dynasties 
that sprang out of the Roman power, and the little 
horn to be either the Turkish power, the Mohammedan 
power, the Papacy, or Antichrist. 

But another class of interpreters has thrown over- 
board the notion that this vision had any relation to 
the political events of Daniel's day. They tell us the 
real interpretation of this vision is to be found in the 
political events of European history subsequent to the 
dawn of Christianity, that the first beast with the 
eagle wings denoted the reign of the Roman Christian 



cheist's second advent, etc. 255 

Emperors, the second, with the ribs in his mouth, the 
Goths, the Yandals, and the Lombards ; the third, 
with the four heads and four wings, the Mohammedan 
kingdom with the four Caliphates ; the fourth, the 
kingdom of Charlemagne. The ten horns are the 
dependencies of this kingdom, and the little horn is 
the Papacy as the actual Antichrist. I give these 
explanations to show how seriously disagreed are the 
most competent critics in their methods of interpreting 
this vision ; how difficult and perplexing a task it is 
to make its incidents to dovetail with real history; 
and therefore how much reason there is for modesty 
and humility on the part of those who claim to be its 
expounders. 

THE ANTICHRIST. 

But the second prophecy that has so much be- 
wildered interpreters is that of Paul, where he ad- 
monishes the Thessalonians to let no man deceive them 
respecting the second coming of Christ. ' For/ says he 
in 2 Thess. ii. 2, 3, 'that day shall not come except there 
come a falling away first, and that man of sin be re- 
vealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth 
himself above all that is called God, or that is worship- 
ped ; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, 
showing himself that he is God.' This language, 
though boldly expressive, is somewhat difficult to be 
understood and has been variously interpreted. Most 
Protestant commentators believe it to apply to the 
Papacy. The anoaraaia, apostasia, or falling away, is 
said to have been that great apostasy, or departure 
from the primitive purity and simplicity of the gospel, 



256 



Christ's second advent, etc. 



which immediately preceded the rise of the Papacy. 
That man of sin, the son of Perdition, who opposeth 
and exalteth himself above all that is called God, and 
sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he 
is God, is believed to be the Pope of Pome. That the 
conduct of many of the Popes has justified the applica- 
tion of these phrases to the Papacy is unquestionably 
apparent. Pope Vigilius waded to the pontifical 
throne through the blood of his predecessor. Pope 
Joan, though a woman in disguise, was elected and 
confirmed as Pope John VIIL, and brought great 
scandal on the Church by her immorality. Pope 
Marcellinus offered sacrifices to idols. Of Pope 
Honorius the Council of Constantinople said, ' We 
have caused him to be accursed, for that in all things 
he followeth the mind of Sergius the heretic/ The 
Council of Basil condemned Pope Eugenius as a 
despiser of the holy canons — a Simonist, a perjurer, 
and a man fallen from the faith. Pope John II. was 
publicly charged with incest ; Pope Sixtus IY. licensed 
brothels at Eome ; and Pope Alexander VI. was a 
man of dreadful immorality. That this Man of Sin 
has opposed and exalted himself above all that is 
called God such facts as the burning of John Huss, the 
massacre of St Bartholomew, and the cruelties of 
Queen Mary, abundantly testify. That he sitteth in 
the temple of God is manifest by his exalted ecclesi- 
astical position. That he shows that he is God is seen 
not only by his authority being set above the authority 
of the sacred Scriptures, but also by the blasphemous 
title that has been applied to him as ' Our Lord God 
the Pope/ But the author of ' The Coming Struggle * 



Christ's second advent,, etc. 



257 



was quite certain he was Nicholas of Russia ; and the 
author, of ' The Coming Battle ' is still more confident 
that he is Napoleon III. 

But the third great prophecy respecting this 
Antichrist is to be found in the twelfth and three 
following chapters of the Book of the Apocalypse. 
John saw ' a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed 
with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon 
her head a crown of twelve stars. And there appeared 
another great wonder in heaven ; and behold a great 
red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and 
seven crowns upon his heads. And the woman fled 
into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of 
God, that they should feed her there a thousand two 
hundred and threescore days. And he saw a beast 
rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten 
horns, and the beast was like unto a leopard, and his 
feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the 
mouth of a lion ; and the dragon gave him his power, 
and his seat, and great authority. And one of his 
heads was as it were wounded to death, and his 
deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered 
after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon 
which gave power to the beast, saying, " Who is like 
the beast ? Who is able to make war with him ? " 
And there was given unto him a mouth, speaking 
great things and blasphemies ; and power was given 
unto him to continue forty and two months. And it 
was given to him to make war with the saints, to 
overcome them ; and power was given him over all 
kindreds and tongues. And all that dwell upon the 
earth shall worship him whose names are not written 

17 



258 



chkist's second advent,, etc. 



in the book of life. And he beheld another beast 
coming up out of the earth, and he maketh fire 
come down from heaven in the sight of men. And he 
had power given to him to cause that as many as would 
not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 
And he caused all, both small and great, to receive a 
mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads ; and 
that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the 
mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his 
name : the number of the beast is the number of a 
man, and it is SIX HUNDRED THREESCORE 
AND SIX/ 

And there came one of the angels and showed him 
' a woman arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, decked 
with gold and precious stones, having a golden cup in 
her hand, and upon her forehead was written MYS- 
TERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER 
OF HARLOTS, AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE 
EARTH. And the woman was drunk with the blood 
of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of 
Jesus. And the angel said, " I will tell thee the mys- 
tery of the woman, and of the beast that carried her, 
which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The 
beast that thou sawest was, and is not, and yet is, and 
shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into 
perdition. The seven heads are seven mountains, on 
which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings ; 
five are fallen, and one is and the other is not yet 
come, and when he cometh he must continue a short 
space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is 
the eighth, and is of the seventh, and goeth into per- 
dition. And the ten horns are ten kings, which have 



Christ's second advent, etc. 



259 



received no kingdom as yet. And these shall give 
their power unto the beast, and shall make war with 
the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He 
is Lord of lords, and King of kings. And the woman 
which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth 
over the kings of the earth.-" 3 

METHODS OF INTERPRETATION. 

There are five leading methods of interpreting 
these prophecies — 1. The Pretorist, according to 
which the book of the Apocalypse refers to the early 
triumphs of Christianity over its Jewish and Pagan 
enemies. 2. The Continuous, according to which the 
book presents a progressive history of many things 
now accomplished, and of others yet to come. 3 0 The 
Simple Futurist, according to which the first three 
chapters relate to Churches actually existing in Asia 
Minor in the days of the writer, while the remaining 
chapters refer to events yet future, and which are to 
precede or to accompany the second advent of Christ. 
4. The Extreme Futurist, according to which the whole 
book refers to events which yet lie in the future. 5. 
The Poetic, which regards the book as a prophetic 
poem of a symbolical character, intended to arrest and 
impress the mind of the reader by its bold and mag- 
nificent imagery. To the blessing of the right of pri- 
vate judgment we are indebted for the privilege of 
being able to select for ourselves such a method of in- 
terpreting these images as may seem to us the best. 
The interpretation adopted by the writer of ' The 
Coming Battle 9 is, however, as elaborately absurd as 
it is startlingly unique. Throwing the notion of the 



260 



cheist's second advent, etc. 



author of ' The Coming Struggle 3 concerning the 
Emperor of Russia to the winds, he starts the still 
more sensational doctrine, that the present head of 
the French Empire is the Apocalyptic ' Beast/ the 
' Man of Sin/ the ' Son of Perdition/ the ' Personal 
Antichrist/ and the f Destined Monarch of the World/ 
He tells us that Louis Napoleon is soon to acquire 
complete ascendancy over Christendom, and that for 
three years and a half he is ruthlessly to slay nearly 
every one who will not acknowledge him to be God. 
That the present shrewd and clever Emperor of the 
Erench may so far lose his wits as to claim that hom- 
age which belongs alone to God is possible ; but that 
in such a state of imbecility he should have power to 
slay the great majority of mankind Mr Baxter himself 
cannot seriously believe. Besides, if all are to be 
slain who refuse to acknowledge Napoleon as God, 
whence shall come the mighty armies that have yet to 
fight at Armageddon ? 

But Mr Baxter further tells us that Christendom 
is to become ' a great slaughterhouse or shambles, in 
which tens of thousands of Christ's sheep will be 
butchered, and scarcely any one will escape the awful 
ordeal of being put to the test, whether they will con- 
fess Christ and be killed, perhaps with awful torture, 
or whether they will acknowledge Napoleon as God, 
and thus purchase temporary safety at the cost of 
eternal damnation. Those who choose the latter alter- 
native will be branded with Napoleon's name, or the 
number 666 in their forehead or their hand, just as 
cattle have stamped upon them the name of their 
owner.' 



Christ's second advent, etc. 261 

From such statements as these it is quite clear 
that symbols and metaphors are worse than wasted on 
Mr Baxter. Lacking the perception of poetic beauty, 
his prosy soul would literalize the sublimest thoughts 
of our Bible bards. He would turn the clouds into 
leathern bottles, 'and the sky into a molten looking- 
glass. He would give hands to the trees, and vocal 
organs to the desert. He would turn heaven into a 
literal city twelve thousand cubits high, and make hell 
a simple pit without a bottom. Christ would be a 
literal lamb with seven horns, and the Church an actual 
woman that was married to the Lamb. The idea of a 
monarch now literally branding his subjects on their 
foreheads like cattle is a preposterous absurdity; but 
it is so eminently pastoral in its character that it seems 
to be a pity that Mr Baxter has not added the stock- 
whip to the branding irons. The utility of this would 
have been unquestionable, as the use of one necessarily 
involves the use of the other. But seriously we can- 
not read such extraordinary statements without being 
perplexed, whether to laugh at the arrant impudence 
and cold presumption which they indicate, or to weep 
at the perverted intellect and morbid emotion they 
display. 

me. Baxter's ten reasons. 

Mr Baxter gives us ten reasons for believing Louis 
Napoleon to be the future personal Antichrist. First, 
he says, because he is the beast's seventh or revived 
eighth head, predicted in the Book of Revelation. But 
several things may be said in reply to this statement. 
1. It cannot really be determined that the story of the 



262 



Christ's second advent, etc. 



beast is intended to foreshadow the political history of 
Europe and the world. The very ablest of our bibli- 
cal expositors are disagreed upon this matter. 

2. Even if this could be demonstrated, it is still 
doubtful, as we have already seen, what the different 
heads of the beast are intended to represent, and to 
what epochs they are intended to apply. The language 
is so general in its character, and so applicable to so 
many different persons and events, that it is impos- 
sible for any modest man to say with confidence to 
which of these it was, and to which it was not intended 
to refer. A dozen theories might be started, each ap- 
plying the story of the beast to different persons and 
different events, and yet each one would appear as 
plausible as that of Mr Baxter. It only requires a 
vigorous imagination, a large amount of assurance, a 
smattering of the world's history, a knowledge of a 
few disconnected passages of Scripture, and a con- 
science not overburdened with sensitiveness, to make 
it fit the incidents of almost any great epoch in the 
history of the world. 

3. But supposing it to be proved beyond the possi- 
bility of question that the Roman power was symbol- 
ized by this beast, Mr Baxter has then a still more 
impossible task to accomplish. Taking the passage, 
' There are seven kings ; five are fallen and one is, 
and the other is not yet come, and when he cometh 
he must continue a short space ; ' he tells us that the 
term ' seven kings 3 signifies seven successive modes 
of political administration, or forms of government 
over the Roman empire ; that the Roman emperorship 
was the sixth head j that this head fell in 1806 when 



Christ's second advent, etc. 



263 



the Emperor of Austria renounced the title of Emperor 
of the Romans, and that then Napoleon Buonaparte 
became the seventh head. 

Now this looks very straightforward, and would 
have been very conclusive if it had only been true. If 
the Roman empire had continued in existence till the 
year 1806, there would have been little difficulty in so 
manufacturing matters as to make the great Napoleon 
appear to be the seventh head. But if we can show 
that the great Roman empire, with its imperial form 
of government, went to pieces some hundreds of years 
before 1806, it will follow that Mr Baxter's great 
Napoleonic argument must go to pieces also. What 
then are the facts ? why, that Mr Baxter himself admits 
that the Roman emperorship ceased to have an un- 
broken line of representatives at Rome in the year 476, 
when Augustulus, Emperor of the Western Roman 
Empire, was deposed by Odoacer the barbarian. It is 
true, he tells us, that there was another Emperor, 
named Zeno, of an altogether different order of suc- 
cession, reigning at that time in Constantinople over 
the Eastern Roman Empire, to whom the Western 
Senate, on the deposition of Augustulus, offered their 
allegiance; but even this bastard emperorship came 
to an end when the Turks took possession of Constan- 
tinople, in 1453. If the rule of Zeno was not a legiti- 
mate maintenance of the sixth form of government it 
could have no legitimate succession ; if it was, it term- 
inated in 1453, where, of course, the sixth head came 
to an end, and with it the extraordinary reasoning of 
Mr Baxter also ends. Our sensational friend en- 
deavours to get out of this difficulty by stating that 



264 



cheist's second advent, etc. 



653 years before the Constantinople emperorship of 
Rome came to an end, Charlemagne, the King of 
France, had been crowned Emperor of the Eomans, 
and that in 961 this title became vested in the Em- 
peror of Germany, with whom it continued till the 
year 1806. 

But this reasoning involves these great absurdities : 
it represents the real Roman emperorship as existing 
when it had no existence ; it represents the empire as 
under one emperorship when it was actually under two ; 
it confounds the mere assumption of imperial titles 
with the real exercise of legitimate authority ; and it 
represents a great empire as having a definite and or- 
ganized existence for more than a thousand years after 
its real government had melted away. Such crudities 
of reasoning and such perversions of history are to be 
found on almost every page of Mr Baxter's book. 

But even supposing the unbroken existence of the 
Roman empire till 1806 had been established, Mr 
Baxter has then to show how in any proper sense 
either Napoleon the First, or Napoleon the Third, can 
be called the head of that empire. The whole of his 
statements on these matters are simply pieces of gra- 
tuitous assumption. They have not a particle of real 
evidence to rest upon, and the slightest smatterer in 
European history could easily refute them. 

4. But supposing that a strong historical presump- 
tion could be made out in favour of Mr Baxter's theory, 
it is still impossible to show how in any one real sense 
Louis Napoleon answers to the New Testament de- 
scription of Antichrist. In what sense can it be said 
that he is a little horn? Most people of late years 



Christ's second advent, etc. 



265 



have been thinking that he is rather a large horn, in 
fact the largest horn that the world has lately seen. 
In what sense can it be said that he is a king of fierce 
countenance ? Literally, as I can personally testify, 
his face is a very mild one ; while politically the charge 
of fierceness cannot be laid at his door. In what 
sense can it be said that he denieth the Father and the 
Son, when it is well known that he worships both ? 
In what sense can it be said that he is the Son of Per- 
dition ? How can he be said to sit in the temple of 
God ? and whoever heard of him speaking great words 
of blasphemy against God and His tabernacle and 
them that dwell in heaven, or of his opposing himself 
above all that is called God or that is worshipped ? It 
is a perversion of all the decencies of propriety to say 
that such language is applicable to Napoleon the Third. 

So far from his opposing himself to all that is called 
God, it is well known that he has done more for the 
cause of religious liberty in France than any other 
ruler she ever had. Before he came to the throne 
there was no such thing as religious liberty enjoyed in 
any part of the French dominions. Popery had its 
ascendancy protected, but Protestantism was placed 
under a ban of reprobation. Protestant ministers in 
many places were denied the right to preach, Protestant 
churches were forbidden to be built, and even Pro- 
testant marriages and burials were forbidden to be 
solemnized. But soon after Louis Napoleon came to 
the throne of France he gave to every one the same 
religious freedom that he claimed for himself. He 
repealed the intolerant laws relating to religious 
worship, and gave to dissenters from the Church of 



266 



Christ's second advent, etc. 



Rome, under very trifling restrictions, the right to 
build churches, to conduct religious ordinances, and 
in every way to worship the God of their fathers as 
their own consciences might direct. I ask was that 
the part of Antichrist ? was that the conduct of one 
who opposeth himself to all that is called God ? As, 
then, Mr Baxter says that this is the main argument 
by which it is demonstrated with mathematical 
certainty that Louis Napoleon will be Antichrist, and 
as I maintain that the mathematics of the subject 
break down at every possible point, we have no altern- 
ative but to pronounce it a delusion and a snare. 

The second reason Mr Baxter gives for his theory 
is that Louis Napoleon answers to the description 
given of Antichrist in Rev. xiii. I have only to ask 
you to read that chapter without the gloss of Mr 
Baxter to enable you to see that this argument breaks 
down by its very preposterousness. There is some 
doubt whether the chapter refers to any Antichrist, 
bub if it does so, it applies quite as much to any other 
of the five leading monarchs of Europe as it does to 
Louis Napoleon. In fact, the author of ' The Coming 
Struggle 7 has already applied it to the late Emperor 
Nicholas, and I shall not be surprised if, after the 
recent news of Prussian conquests, some other sensa- 
tionalist writes a book to prove that King Frederick 
William is the personal Antichrist and the coming 
beast. There are more points in his character than 
in that of Louis Napoleon to support that assump- 
tion. 

Mr Baxter's third reason is that Louis Napoleon 
has obtained actual possession of Rome. But this is 



cheist's second advent, etc. 267 

not true. The Emperor of the French no more has 
possession of Rome because he has supported the 
Pope to maintain himself there than England has 
possession of Turkey because she assisted the Sultan 
to defend himself against the Emperor of Russia. 
Besides, it is rather an amusing illustration of the 
danger of a man turning prophet in respect to incidents 
so near; that though there were French soldiers in 
Rome at the time that Mr Baxter's book was written, 
these soldiers are now being formally withdrawn. 
Probably there is not a single French soldier in all the 
Papal territories at the present moment. Here we have 
history cruelly turning the tables on the would-be 
prophets. 

Mr Baxter says that the whole extent of the original 
Roman empire is now becoming rapidly subordinated 
to Louis Napoleon's control. How much truth there 
is in this statement may be judged from the fact that 
he means that Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Austria, 
Greece, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and several other 
kingdoms are gradually becoming portions of his 
empire. That Great Britain is now becoming a por- 
tion of the French empire will probably be news to 
Englishmen. That we should hear some fine morning 
of Louis Napoleon knocking at the door of Britannia, 
carpet-bag in hand, and asking for shelter from his 
pursuers, would not surprise us ; but that he should 
ever become Napoleon III., Dei Gratia, Britanniarum 
Rex, is more than our faith's capacity permits us to 
believe. Besides, it is generally understood that 
Louis Napoleon finds it no easy task to rule his own 
empire ; how, then, he is to manage such a hetero- 



238 



Christ's second advent, etc. 



geneous medley of peoples as Mr Baxter would commit 
to liis care it is difficult to divine. 

But his sixth reason for making Napoleon the 
Antichrist is, that his name fulfils the prophecy. 

In the ninth chapter of the Bevelations we read 
of the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the 
Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek hath his 
name Apollyon. Now, because the name of the 
French Emperor is Napoleon, and can be made 
Apoleon by striking out the first letter ; and because 
A-po-le-on sounds very much like Ajp-ol-lyon, there- 
fore the Emperor of the French must be the angel 
of the bottomless pit. It is really very trying to 
one's patience to have to reply to such nonsense. But 
its absurdity may easily be illustrated. 

I have a friend named Fox. But the word Fox is 
very much like the word ox. By striking out the first 
letter, as Mr Baxter does, it immediately becomes ox. 
It therefore follows, according to his reasoning, that 
Mr Fox must be an ox. In the same way, Mr Clark 
must be a lark, Mr Cass must be an ass, Mr Feast 
must be the beast, and Mr Bevil the devil. I must 
really apologize to my friends for these parodies upon 
their names \ but I give them to exhibit the absurdity 
of Mr Baxter's sixth argument. It would certainly be 
difficult to find anything ever perpetrated in the name 
of reason more preposterous than this. 

THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST. 

But Mr Baxter tells us that he has found the 
number 666 in the name of Louis Napoleon. I venture 
to assert that he has done nothing of the kind ; but if 



Christ's second advent, etc. 



269 



he had done so it does not, therefore, follow that 
Louis Napoleon must be the beast. He says, 'the 
sum of the letters in the whole name Louis Napoleon 
Bonaparte, written in Hebrew, is equal to 666.'' But 
the name given by Mr Baxter is not the ' whole ' name 
of the French Emperor. His whole name is Charles 
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, and I defy Mr Baxter or 
any one else to extract the number 666 either from 
the French, English, Greek, Hebrew, or Latin form 
of this name. Even if ( Louis Napoleon Bonaparte' 
were the whole name of the French Emperor Mr 
Baxter cannot make the sum of the Hebrew letters to 
be only 666. Let any one try the experiment and 
succeed if he cas. But even if he could it then no 
more follows that Louis Napoleon is the personal 
Antichrist than it does that he is the king of Tim- 
buctoo. The following are the alphabets with which 
Mr Baxter performs his great feats of literary presti- 
digitation. 





GREEK. 






GEEEK. 




ROMAN. 


Letters. 


Karnes. 


Numbers. 


Letters. 


Names. 


Numbers. 


Letters. 


Numbers. 


a 


Alpha 


1 


V 




50 


I 


1 




Beta 


2 


I 


Xi 


60 


Vor U 


5 


7 


Gamma 


3 


0 


Omicron 


70 


X 


10 


8 


Delta 


4 


7T 


Pi 


80 


L 


50 


€ 


Epsilon 


5 


Q 


Omega 


90 


C 


100 




Sigma 


6 


P 


Eho 


100 


D 


500 




Zeta 


7 


<T 


Sigma 


200 


M 


1000 


n 


Eta 


8 


T 


Tan 


300 








Theta 


9 


V 


Upsilon 


400 






i 


Iota 


10 


0 


Phi 


500 






K 


Kappa 


20 


X 


Chi 


600 






\ 


Lambda 


30 




Psi 


700 






H- 


Mu 


40 


0) 


Omega 


800 







270 



Christ's second advent, etc. 



Let us now honestly examine the designations of 
Lonis Napoleon, and see whether, by the aid of these 
alphabets, we can extract from them the number of 
the beast. There are only two of these with which we 
can fairly deal. The first is the imperial title, the 
other the baptismal name. To alter in any way, either 
by lengthening or shortening these designations, in 
order to make the numbers fit, would be a piece of 
trickery which might be tolerated amongst the 
members of the thimblerigging fraternity, but which 
can only be scouted with scorn from discussions of a 
literary kind. To this kind of trickery, however, as 
we shall shortly see, Mr Baxter frequently descends. 
If we take the English form of the imperial title, 
Emperor Napoleon III., and spell it out according to 
the Roman alphabet, we get the following result : 
E M PEEOR NAPOLEON IIL 

1000 50 111! 10 ° 3 

Here we find the number greatly in excess of 666. 
But whichever the form of the title, or whichever the 
kind of alphabet we use, the result is very much the 
same. 

The mystical number is not in Emperor, it is not 
in Charles, it is not in Louis, it is not in Napoleon, it 
is not in Buonaparte, nor is it in the whole of these 
combined. We contend, then, that in the name of 
Louis Napoleon Mr Baxter has simply found a mare's 
nest, out of which he has raised all this noise and dust. 

But, says an objector, has he not found the number 
of the beast in the word Ludovicus, which is the Latin 
form of Louis ? Yes, the crafty fellow, he knows that 
the letter D stands for 500, that C stands for 100, and 



cheist's second advent, etc. 



271 



L for 50, and that if he can only find a word contain- 
ing these three letters, there will be very little diffi- 
culty in manufacturing the number he requires. He 
therefore turns to his Latin grammar, after having, no 
doubt, well tried the Greek ; and although he tells us 
that ' the Revelation, being written in Greek, the 
number 666 must be contained in Antichrist's name 
in Greek/ yet, finding Ludovicus to be the Latin of 
Louis, and this word to contain the identical letters 
and numbers he wants, he instantly makes a virtue of 
necessity by contending that this is the proper name 
of Louis Napoleon. To this, however, I have only to 
reply that this argument proves too much. There are 
a great many other persons besides the Emperor of 
the French who bear the name of Louis, and the Latin 
of whose names is therefore Ludovicus. There were 
at least eighteen other illustrious personages connected 
with the throne of France who bore this name before 
Louis Napoleon was born. But if the name of every 
one of these contained the number of the beast, and 
he must be the beast who bears that name, I am 
afraid Mr Baxter will find more beasts now in the 
world, and more recorded on the page of history, than 
he will be able to find places for. The whole argu- 
ment, however, is met by the simple statement that 
the word Ludovicus is not and never was the proper 
name of Napoleon III. 

But Mr Baxter perpetrates another literary fraud 
in attempting to produce the impression that the word 
Napoleon in Greek contains the number 666. Now 
the word Napoleon in Greek contains only the number 
356. Thus, 



272 



Christ's second advent, etc. 



50 1 80 70 30 5 70 50 



356 



But Mr Baxter finds that by the addition to the word 
Napoleon of the Greek letters equivalent to t and i, he 
can make the number exactly 666. Turning to his Greek 
grammar, he finds that the addition of these letters 
forms the dative case of the word Napoleon, which, 
however, is not the name of the French Emperor, as 
he was baptized in the nominative and not the dative 
case. But, as dedicatory inscriptions on the Greek 
temples used to be made in the dative case, Mr Bax- 
ter seems to consider that Louis Napoleon must also 
have been dedicated in that case ! Upon such reason- 
ing he perpetrates a double fraud. He tells us what 
is not true ; that he has found the number of the beast 
in the name of the Emperor, and then, what is still 
less true, that in Greek Napoleonti is that name. 

The word Lateinos or Latin man, which is a word 
peculiarly applicable to the Pope of Rome, contains in 
Greek the number 666 — 

A a r € i v o $ ) „ nrt 



The same number is found in the Hebrew form Ro- 
manics, the Roman man, and in a great many other 
words. 

Then as to the remaining reasons of Mr Baxter, 
they are soon disposed of. Louis Napoleon is no 
more of Greek extraction than I am. The story about 
his impenetrable countenance is a simple myth, and 
that about his addiction to the practice of spiritualism 
is ditto. His sudden rise from obscurity to power 



30 1 300 5 




666 



chkist's second advent, etc. 273 

proves nothing but the will of Providence and the in- 
fluence of a great name. The predictions about the 
rise of a French emperor were mere political guesses, 
and manifestly beyond the mark ; while the story 
about the end of the present dispensation is one that 
has been told at least a dozen times during the last 
half-dozen centuries. 

CONCLUSION. 

There are many other topics I should have liked to 
touch upon, but I can only now commend these facts 
to your consideration. I am not insensible to the 
strength, and force, and beauty of those great and 
important prophecies with which the Word of Truth 
abounds. I am not insensible to the services they 
have rendered to the Church, at once as pillars of 
strength and landmarks of faith. I am not insensible 
to the tendency of the human mind to swing away 
from the moorings of God's word, and to cast loose 
from its authority and restraints, and therefore I am 
not insensible to the importance of Christian ministers 
laying hold on all helping agencies, and co-operating* 
with all really spiritualizing influences for the promo- 
tion of the common weal ; and it is only because I be- 
lieve that such political and religious extravagancies 
as Mr Baxter's book reveals are calculated to do 
serious and permanent injury to the Church of God 
and the cause of truth that I have been induced to- 
night to undertake their refutation. But I should 
feel that I had seriously failed in my duty, and left 
my task but half complete, if I let this large meeting 
close without a word or two of practical advice. 

18 



274 



chbist's second advent, etc. 



Though I believe in my heart that Mr Baxter's book 
is false, yet there is another book, an older book, and 
a better book, the imperishable truths of which I 
would this night commend to your consideration. 
That book tells you of the depravation of your nature, 
of the immortality of your souls, of your accountability 
before God, and of your redemption by the blood of 
Christ. It tells you of a great battle you have to 
fight; but it is the battle with your own lusts, and 
with the enemy of your undying souls. It tells you 
of a coming struggle, but it is the struggle to get the 
world and sin beneath your feet, and to see death be- 
fore you as a vanquished foe. Only fight manfully in 
this battle and conquer in this struggle, and there will 
be no other battle you need to care about, and no 
other foe you need to fear. Have you conquered the 
Antichrist within you ? Satisfy yourselves on this 
question. Let the example of Seneca, the old Roman 
philosopher, inspire you. ' When at night,' says he, 
' the candle is going out, and all is still and quiet, then 
do I look back upon, and search all the day past, by 
running over all I have thought, or said, or done. I 
hide nothing from myself; I overlook and pass by 
nothing. I say to myself, so and so, thou hast done 
unadvisedly ; do so no more. And again I ask myself, 
what evil have I healed ? What vice have I resisted ? 
What passion have I moderated ? WTiat lesson have 
I learned ? And what good have I done ? 3 Yes, 
what good have I done ? How important is this 
question ! Brethren, there is work to do, real and 
enduring work. 



cheist's second advent, etc. 



275 



'Life is real, life is earnest, 
And the grave is not its goal : 
Dust thou art, to dust returnest, 
Was not spoken of the soul. 

'Not enjoyment and not sorrow 

Is our destined end or way ; 
But to act that each to-morrow 

Finds us farther than to-day.' 

Yes ! to act ! Each to act ! Promptly to act ! Vigor- 
ously to act ! Benevolently to act ! Unrelaxingly to 
act ! To-day to act ! 

To-day, then, let us toil, humbly and believingly 
toil, for ourselves, for humanity, and God, and we shall 
find this to be the best specific for the evils of to- 
morrow. 

[The Header will observe that this lecture was delivered before 
the late war between Erance and Prussia. The issue of that war in 
hurling Napoleon the Third from the throne of France, and com- 
pelling him to seek refuge in England, shows how utterly foolish are 
such speculations as those of Mr Baxter and others. — Ed.] 



276 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCRATES. 

A SUBJECT OF STUDY FOR YOUNG MEN. 

The name of Socrates is one of the most familiar 
in the whole nominal catalogue of classic literature. 
Of all the heathen footprints left upon 

' the sands of time,' 

his have proved the deepest and the most enduring. 
The period of his life forms a distinct epoch in the 
history of the world. His character was full of 
"beautiful and striking peculiarities. He professed to 
know nothing, and yet was the profoundest philosopher 
of his age; he formed no school, and yet was the 
schoolmaster of an entire republic ; he wrote no books, 
and yet the influence of his teaching has been felt on 
the utmost verge of civilization ; he took no care to 
perpetuate his fame, and yet that fame is still ex- 
tending, and will pass untarnished to the end of time. 
Such was the stern simplicity of his social habits, the 
inflexible integrity of his moral character, the fearless- 
ness of his courage, the strength of his endurance, 
the keenness of his penetration, the depth of his. 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OE SOCRATES. 277 

wisdom, the geniality of his temper, the adroitness of 
his address, the playfulness of his wit, the fascination 
of his conversation, and the shameful injustice of his 
death, that it is utterly impossible for his name to die 
while the histories of philosophy and heroism survive. 
Of all the names in ancient Greece, there is only one 
that the enemies of Christianity have dared to bring 
into open comparison with that of Christ, and that is 
Socrates ; and of all the preceptors of the heathen 
world, the precepts of Socrates alone have been ad- 
mitted to approximate, though but very slightly, to 
the precepts of the Gospel. 

The place and period of the birth of Socrates were 
peculiarly favourable to the development of his fine 
character. He was born in Athens, about four hundred 
and sixty -nine years before the birth of Christ. Greece 
was at this time the cradle of civilization and philo- 
sophy. Her glory was culminating. Literature and 
art were approaching their highest forms of culture. 
Four hundred years before this time, Homer and 
Hesiod, by their matchless epic strains, had won 
immortal honours for themselves and the country that 
gave them birth. Lycurgus and Solon, by so suc- 
cessfully teaching their science of legislation and self- 
government, had kindled in the bosom of Greece that 
undying patriotic flame which was destined to raise 
her to the very apex of the pinnacle of political pre- 
eminence. Pythagoras, who was both the father and 
the prince of philosophers, had elaborated from chaos 
the elementary principles of physical science. iEsop, 
the great moral Euclid, had captivated all Greece with 
his inimitable fables. Miltiades, by the wonderful 



278 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OP SOCEATES. 



victory of Marathon, had covered his country with 
military glory. Themistocles had swept the Persian 
fleet from the waters of the Mediterranean. Cimon 
had everywhere spread terror amongst the enemies of 
the Republic. The people were recovering from the 
panic of the Persian invasion. Athens was being re- 
built ; the gifted and great-hearted Pericles had formed 
the magnificent design of making her the mistress of the 
world. She was to be a fortress of strength, a city of 
palaces, an abode of refinement, and a temple of the 
gods. For this purpose the most gifted artists of all 
nations were encouraged to become her citizens. 
Sculpture, poetry, painting, music, rhetoric, all were 
being invoked. There were at this time, either 
adorning the site on which Athens stood, or in the 
process of erection : the Pompeium, or depository of 
the sacred vessels ; the Stoa Basileios, with its host of 
antique statues ; the Stoa Poecile, with its paintings 
of matchless magnificence ; the Agora, or market- 
place, divided into suitable sections, and surrounded 
with temples and theatres ; the Theseium, or temple of 
Theseus, beautifully embellished with commemorative 
sculptures ; the immense Olympeium, or temple of 
Jupiter, with its one hundred and twenty columns of 
Pentelic marble ; the Dionysiac Theatre, adorned with 
statues of all the great poets, and capable of accom- 
modating thirty thousand spectators ; the grand old 
Acropolis, with its magnificent architectural decora- 
tions, which were the peerless gems of Greece, the 
glory and the pride of art, and the wonder and the 
envy of the world ; the fine Propylea, which formed the 
gateway to the Acropolis ; the world-renowned Par- 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCRATES. 



279 



thenon, or temple of the Yirgin Goddess ; the temple 
of Erectheus ; the celebrated Areopagus, and a host 
of other important public structures, as justly dis- 
tinguished for their magnificent architecture as for 
their general utility. Outside the city there were 
also the Ceramicus, or great public cemetery, where 
illustrious warriors and public benefactors were pro- 
vided with a final resting-place ; the celebrated 
Lyceum, with its fountains, plantations, and ornamental 
edifices, to which military students and public in- 
structors were accustomed to resort ; and, finally, 
amongst other important places, the Academy, or 
great school of Athenian philosophy, with its walks, 
groves, gardens, and altars, where poets, orators, and 
philosophers continually met for the instruction of the 
rising youth, and the discussion of the great questions 
of the day. There were also at that time, either in 
Athens or in other parts of Greece, men whose fame 
will live for ever. Phidias, the sculptor, was there, 
piling up those noble temples which exhausted the 
highest efforts of genius, and carving those life-like 
statues which were destined to immortalize his name. 
Polygnotus, the painter, was there, sketching out his 
smiling beauties, and adorning his country's temples 
with the triumphs of his art. Aristophanes, the 
comic poet, was there, turning life into a scene of 
laughter by the brilliancy of his wit. Sophocles, the 
high priest of humanity, was there, presenting men 
with their own hearts to read, and compelling them, 
by the force of his genius, to read them. iEschylus 
and Buripedes, the poets, were there, alternately 
exciting the people to smiles and to tears by their 



280 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCEATES. 

graphic portraitures of human life. Protagoras and 
Prodicus, the eloquent sophists, were there, attracting 
the wisest and wealthiest men of Athens to their 
lectures, and realizing fees to a fabulous amount for 
attendance at their schools. There also were Herod- 
otus and Thucydides, the earliest of the Greek his- 
torians; Hippocrates, the founder of medical science; 
Pindar, the lyric poet; Democritus, the blind philo- 
sopher; Gorgias, the rhetorician; Aristides, the upright 
statesman ; and a host of other mighty men, all con- 
tributing by their genius to raise literature, art, their 
age, their country, and themselves to the highest 
possible pitch of earthly grandeur. In such an age, 
in such a country, and in the midst of such a constel- 
lation of brilliant characters, Socrates was born. 

THE SHADOWS OF THE PICTURE. 

We must not, however, overlook the background 
to this picture. While literature and art were ad- 
vancing with such rapid strides, there were many 
canker-worms preying at the root of the Athenian 
Republic. Solon had bequeathed to his country a 
beautiful and compact scheme of legislation; but it 
may be fairly questioned whether its most popular 
element was not also its greatest bane. To arbitrate 
every great civil and criminal question by universal 
suffrage, appeared very captivating to men of limited 
observation. But all history testifies to the political 
calamities that followed such a course. Feeling 
dethroned reason, passion took the place of calm 
deliberation, real statesmanship was discounted, while 
demagogues were in great request. Even the purest 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OE SOCRATES. 281 

patriots were often compelled to pander to popular 
passions, in order to save themselves from banishment 
or death. 

At the very time that Socrates was struggling 
into notice, the peerless Pericles was compromising 
his high honour, in order to retain his hold on the 
reins of the Republic. Finding that his eloquent rival, 
Thucydides, was rapidly undermining his authority, he 
instituted a double decree — first, that all the lands 
wrested from the enemies of Greece should be equally 
divided amongst the people ; and second, that all the 
expenses of the public amusements should be paid by 
the treasury of the State. These ordinances ac- 
complished their object. They gratified the populace, 
and restored Pericles his power. But they led to 
great public abuses, and became the source of many 
of the calamities that had subsequently to be endured. 

Nor was this all. The state of society at that time 
was one of continued restlessness. Having scattered 
the power of Persia to the winds, the people were 
continually thirsting after fresh conquests. Many of 
the older families, exhausted by their own extrava- 
gance, by the exactions of the State, or the burdens of 
war, were rapidly declining in wealth ; while numbers 
of industrious mechanics, artists, and tradesmen were 
rising into public importance. There was a large 
slave population, which generated a spirit of insolence 
amongst the people. There was also a crowd of idle 
loungers who infested the public courts, and fed upon 
the carcase of the State. Honest toil was beneath 
their dignity. They fancied that to have soiled their 
hands with labour would have covered them with dis- 



282 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OP SOCRATES. 



grace ; but no kind of State rascality was too polluting 
for their skin. 

The distempered state of the social atmosphere of 
Athens at that time may also be determined by the 
character of its female society. While the wives and 
daughters of the upper classes were required to live in 
the strictest social privacy, and to be as little known 
in public as possible, even for their virtues, their 
places were filled by other females, who were strangers 
to family ties, and who had been attracted to Athens 
by the licentiousness and wealth of an imperial city. 
High intellectual endowments, with masculine dignity 
of understanding, were of far greater importance in 
the estimation of the Grecian aristocracy than virtue 
and modesty. Persons with such accomplishments — 
no matter how scandalous their lives might be — could 
live in Athens, not only without shame, but even in 
the enjoyment of the highest respect. Not only 
Pericles, but many of the gravest of the Grecian 
philosophers are said to have frequented the house of 
the notorious courtesan, Aspasia, in order to listen to 
those lectures on political and rhetorical science for 
which she had earned such a world-wide reputation. 
In the midst of such a state of things, Socrates received 
his education. By these things his early character 
was, in some measure, moulded. But for them, the 
characteristics of his philosophy might have been more 
refined, and less pungent than they were. As an 
Athenian, he grew up amongst Athenians. He thus 
became acquainted with the characters and circum- 
stances of the people, and learned the best means by 
which their attention might be won. 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OP SOCEATES. 



283 



HIS EATHEE. 

Socrates was the son of Sophroniscus, a sculptor. 
In all probability, his father assisted Phidias in the 
chiselling of those immortal marbles, many of which 
now adorn the walls of our national Museum. It 
would have been all to the greater honour of Socrates 
had it been true, as it is sometimes affirmed, that his 
father was a simple stonemason. No man deserves 
the less reverence because of the poverty of his birth, 
or the obscurity of his origin. Nay, that man is 
worthy of double honour who raises himself out of the 
dust to become a blessing to mankind. But the 
origin of Socrates was probably not quite so humble, 
nor his early educational advantages so few, as is 
generally supposed. 

So completely had literature and art become 
associated in Athens, that every artist was necessarily 
a philosopher, and every philosopher understood the 
principles of art. Idolatry was the besetting sin of 
Greece, and the love of beauty was a cardinal article 
in its people's creed. The more beautiful a face or 
form could be rendered by an artist, the more certain 
did he feel that the gods would bless him here, and 
immortally reward him hereafter. Art was based on 
education. The philosophers recommended to all 
classes the study of art, as a refined method of ele- 
vating their perception of beauty. The government 
seconded the recommendations of the philosophers; 
the priests supported both. The youthful artist had 
therefore to study the principles of geometry, and to 
analyze the peculiarities of beauty, before he took a 



284 



THE LIEE AND TIMES OF SOCBATES. 



stylus into his hand, or attempted to carve the outline 
of a muscle in marble. The father of Socrates,, then, 
though somewhat poor, would be far from being 
illiterate, or unqualified to lay for his son those 
foundations of character on which so glorious a super- 
structure was subsequently reared. 

ATHENIAN EQUALITY. 

In Athens, men of the humblest birth associated 
with those of highest rank. The spare time of every 
intelligent citizen was spent either in discussing, or in 
listening to the discussions, of questions of popular 
interest. For this purpose, the doors of the Academy, 
the Lyceum, and other public places, were continually 
open. Athenian life was one of continual intellectual 
excitement. It was as true in the days of Socrates as 
in those of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, that ' the 
Athenians spent their time in nothing else but either 
to tell or to hear of some new thing/ In such an age, 
we can readily imagine ' the sculptor's apprentice 9 
stealing away before sunset from the studio of his 
father, to listen to literary and philosophical lectures 
from the profoundest thinkers of his age. 

HIS EAELY STUDIES. 

To what extent he became engrossed in these 
studies we can easily conjecture, when we remember 
that the Oracle at Delphi had already declared that he 
had 'in himself a director that was superior to a 
thousand teachers ; 9 and that, in consequence of this, 
his father had been recommended 'to leave him en- 
tirely to his own bent/ Even Protagoras is said to 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCEATES. 



285 



liave told him at this time, with a patronizing air, that 
he should not be surprised if he were to turn out ' a 
man of celebrity for philosophy/ That his father's 
trade was distasteful to him we have never been in- 
formed ; indeed, the reverse of this appears to have 
been the fact. It is said that he made such rapid pro- 
ficiency in artistic studies, that he had executed a 
statue of Mercury, and another of the Graces, before 
he was seventeen years of age. These were counted 
worthy of being placed in the same citadel with the 
magnificent ' Minerva ' of Phidias. ~No man, however, 
can reasonably expect to immortalize himself who 
dabbles in every department of study, and seeks to be 
proficient in none. If a young man would do justice 
to himself and earn distinction, he must select his 
sphere of occupation, and stick to it. Let him bring 
all the treasures of his knowledge, all the resources of 
his experience, and all the power of his mind and 
muscles, to bear on that one point; and, with God's 
blessing on his efforts, he cannot fail to prosper. Many 
a young man has robbed himself of a bright reputa- 
tion by having tinkered at twenty things, and worked 
earnestly at none. 

Socrates seems to have understood the value of 
concentrated effort. His application to the work of 
self-improvement was most exemplary. Such, how- 
ever, was his faculty of observation, and such his 
analytic power of mind, that it soon became evident 
that he was fitted for a nobler work than that of 
moulding marble into the form of men. Crito was 
then a rich young man, and was just rising into public 
notice. He became intimate with Socrates; he 



286 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCRATES. 



admired Lis genius,, and regretted that so promising a 
youth should be perpetually employed with a chisel in 
his hand. He therefore took him from the workshop, 
that he might devote all his time and energy to intel- 
lectual pursuits. Thus, Socrates found, what aspiring 
young men seldom fail to do, that the moment he gave 
indications of fitness for a higher sphere of life, a 
higher opened out before him. It cannot be expected 
that every enterprising youth should meet with a 
patronizing Crito ; but nothing is more evident, than 
that there exists as perfect a law of mental and moral 
as there does of material gravitation. It is as natural 
for an active and virtuous young man to rise in the 
social scale, as for a sluggish and vicious one to sink. 
God has placed every young man's destiny, to a great 
extent, in his own hands ; let him aspire and struggle, 
and nothing can arrest his upward progress. The 
door to the temple of immortality is never shut. 

Released from the necessity of toiling for his daily 
bread, Socrates devoted himself with great assiduity 
to the study of natural philosophy. He soon found 
that this department of study had been greatly 
neglected, and that the works of men were far better 
understood than the works of God. Anaxagoras was 
then in Athens. He and Democritus had both earned 
great distinction by their lectures on physical science. 
Socrates placed himself under the instruction of the 
former, and subsequently under that of his distin- 
guished pupil, Archelaus. He was, however, greatly 
dissatisfied with the result. He was told, indeed, that 
matter was subject to mind, and that the Divine intel- 
ligence was the cause of all existence ; but he was also 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCEATES. 



287 



told that the earth, was immovably fixed in the centre 
of the universe ; that the sea was occasioned by the 
overflowing of the waters in the centre of the earth ; 
that animal life had originally been generated by the 
earth's heat ; that heat and cold, expansion and con- 
traction, were the great principles of all physical 
change ; that the heavens were a solid crystal vault, 
and that the sun was simply a molten mass of red-hot 
iron. Such teachings as these were ill-suited to the 
genius of Socrates. He saw that it was folly for him 
to be spending his time in the study of questions on 
which so little appeared to be known, and to be, at 
the same time, neglecting those of great and practical 
utility. He therefore abandoned the study of natural 
philosophy, and resolved to bring all the powers of his 
great mind to bear on the subjects of courage, fortitude, 
wisdom, justice, piety, temperance, and such others as 
were likely to contribute to the welfare and happiness 
of mankind. 

He now placed himself under Aspasia to study 
rhetoric. He went to Connus and Damon to take 
lessons in music. He consulted other teachers in 
other departments of science. There was no depth of 
sacrifice to which he could not stoop, and no height of 
effort to which he would not climb, in search of quali- 
fication for his contemplated work. He knew that 
great results could never be acquired without great 
efforts. He therefore set himself resolutely to his task, 
and it was not long before he succeeded in diverting 
men's attention from vain astronomical speculations to 
those which had a practical and useful bearing upon 
their own hearts and lives. Thus it was that he 



288 



THE LIPE AND TIMES OP SOCEATES. 



secured for himself, the enviable reputation of 'having* 
been the first man who brought philosophy down from 
heaven, for the study of mankind. 

HIS CONFLICT WITH THE SOPHISTS. 

At this time Protagoras, the accomplished sophist, 
was in the zenith of his popularity. Democritus had 
been teaching that the universe consisted of invisible, 
but self-existent and eternal atoms. The people, how- 
ever, were here left in a state of double perplexity. 
Their first difficulty was, to understand how matter 
could be self-existent ; their next, how it could 
be eternal. Finding that the Doctrine of Democritus 
had not only settled nothing, but that it had actually 
unsettled everything, Protagoras, like a skilful archi- 
tect, hit upon the novel expedient of building for 
himself a new system of philosophy out of the ruins 
of those that were old and exploded. He started the 
temporizing doctrine that, if there were no such thing 
as truth in the world, there was, at all events, the 
possibility of persuasion. If one opinion were as true 
as another — that is, if neither were true — it was at all 
events necessary, for the sake of society, that one or 
other of these opinions should prevail. If, therefore, 
logic were absolutely powerless, rhetoric was perfectly 
efficient. 

Having in this way got rid of the essential differ- 
ence between truth and error, his next step was to 
accomplish the same purpose with right and wrong. 
This was a very easy task. On the principle involved 
in the proverb, ' Set a fool on horseback, and he will 
ride to his ruin/ you have only to concede to Protagoras 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCEATES. 289 

the premises of his argument, and there is no bottom 
to the depth they will carry him. If you admit that 
there is no such thing as eternal truth, you are com- 
pelled to admit the absence of eternal right. In that 
case, right and wrong, like truth and error, are merely 
matters of opinion. The public conscience thus be- 
comes the standard of virtue. Whatever appears in 
the eyes of a nation to be just and honourable, is so 
to that nation ; and the vilest laws that ever existed, 
being based upon the popular apprehension of rectitude, 
are beyond the possibility of impeachment. Such was 
the doctrine of the sophists. Whether it was ever 
carried out by them to its legitimate results may well 
be questioned. Such men, however, were not much 
fitted to be the moral teachers of mankind. They con- 
tinually advertised themselves with the self-commend- 
ing declaration that they could make ' the worse 
appear the better reason/ To teach this art they 
unblushingly demanded enormous sums of money. It 
is said that Protagoras made ten times as much by 
teaching rhetoric as the great Phidias did by carving 
statues. He and his disciples pretended to teach 
everything, and yet they were as shallow and vain as 
they were powerful and rich. Their immense popu- 
larity arose from the fact, that nearly every man in 
Athens needed their services, because nearly every 
man studied the art of popular declamation, and 
aspired to distinction in the State. 

These men were the philosophers of Greece when 
the voice of Socrates was first heard. The great 
struggle of his life was with them . The battle on his 
part was single-handed ; but it was nobly fought and 

19 



290 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCRATES. 

heroically sustained. His powerful intellect enabled 
him, at one glance, to detect the dangerous character 
of their doctrines ; while his high integrity and un- 
flinching courage pre-eminently fitted him for the 
unequal contest. Being disgusted with their philoso- 
phical pretensions, he disdained to take upon himself 
the title of philosopher. He set out with the antag- 
onistic position that he knew nothing ; that the only 
difference between him and other people was, that he 
knew his own real ignorance, while they falsely 
fancied themselves to be very wise. 

HIS CONTROVERSIAL TACTICS. 

The controversial tactics of Socrates were alto- 
gether peculiar to himself. He well knew the secret 
of his own strength. Had he attacked the sophists in 
set and formal lectures, he would have given them the 
opportunity of repeating their magniloquent but 
meaningless phrases, and of displaying their brilliant 
powers of elocution, before assembled crowds. But 
he adopted a far more simple method. When he met 
with a sophist, he would diffidently propose a question. 
The pretender would listen with scornful attention, and 
then make a long, rhetorical, and meaningless reply. 
Socrates would respectfully complain that his memory 
was not capable of retaining so many fine words, and 
would ask for a short answer to another question. The 
answer would be given. He would then respectfully 
ask another question, and another, until he had led the 
writhing controversialist to the edge of a yawning 
precipice, where he must either give up the argument, 
or be tumbled over. In this way he proceeded, from 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCRATES. 



291 



day to day, and week to week, until he had brought 
the whole band of sophists into popular contempt. 
The same method was constantly employed by him in 
reproving vice. He would meet a man in the street, 
whom he knew to be ambitious or profligate — it might 
be an unruly youth or an aspiring democrat. He 
asked a simple and inoffensive question. It was 
answered. A second question arose out of the answer, 
a third, and a fourth. Thus the questioned party was 
led unconsciously on to conclusions the most adverse to 
himself ; and then the crabbed and crooked old man, 
as he was often called by tortured citizens, left him to 
writhe in all the agony of self- confusion, or sent him 
away with the bitterly mortifying consciousness that 
he had been compelled to make a fool of himself. This 
mode of reasoning is called ' The Socratic method/ 
In the hands of a skilful and dishonest questioner it is 
neither fair nor safe, it presents too strong a tempta- 
tion to men to exhibit their craft and skill at the 
expense of honesty and truth ; but in the hands of 
Socrates, who had to deal with clever but unprincipled 
antagonists, it proved as great a scourge as though it 
had been a whip of scorpions. By no other instru- 
mentality could he have left such a legacy of blessings 
to his country and the world. 

Such was his success in rooting out the errors of 
the sophists, that Eusebius calls him the ' purgative 
philosopher/ Plutarch affirms that ''his doctrines 
were so much medicine, administered for the purifica- 
tion of corrupted souls/ While, however, the sub- 
stratum of his great reputation was laid in his contro- 
versy with the sophists, it was chiefly as a teacher of 



292 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCRATES. 



young men that lie was admired and loved. He never 
could be induced to open a school, to deliver a lecture, 
or to write a book ; and yet no teacher ever had so 
many pupils as he. All the young men of Athens were 
his disciples. He was a simple citizen, with a fascin- 
ating tongue, who had certain notions in his head, and 
who resolutely and untiringly talked them out. His 
unwearied diligence commanded universal admiration. 
From early morn till late at night he was accustomed 
to wander about, and to dispute with every man he 
met. He would first go into the market-place, or the 
Academy, then to the house of a friend, then to the 
workshop of an artizan, and then to the residence of 
a magistrate. He would begin to dispute with a 
sculptor, then with a painter, and then with a sophist. 
There was no end to his good-natured questionings 
and provocations. He was, in fact, what a modern 
historian has, with more accuracy than politeness, 
called ' a universal bore 3 — a bore to men who believed 
themselves to be very wise, but whom he was con- 
tinually labouring to convince that they were very 
ignorant. He compelled the people to listen to him, 
and then left them to themselves, both ashamed and 
humbled. His reasons for refusing to write .his dis- 
courses were very characteristic. He said, he thought 
that the paper was very much more valuable than any- 
thing he could write upon it. On another occasion he 
said, He did not put his thoughts upon the skins of 
dead beasts, because he would rather engrave them 
upon the hearts of living men. In this sense it may 
safely be affirmed that few men have written more than 
Socrates has done. 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OP SOCEATES. 



293 



HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 

It was impossible for any one to be many days in 
Athens without seeing Socrates, for no man was ever 
more in the streets than he. Having once seen, you 
could never forget him. Nothing but the sponge of 
oblivion could ever obliterate those features from the 
tablet of your memory. We often form conceptions 
of men's physical appearance from our knowledge of 
their characters. In this case, imagination would pic- 
ture Socrates before us as a man of great mental and 
muscular energy, of tall and commanding figure, with 
a fine Grecian face, a keen, twinkling eye, a deep 
bilious complexion, and a fund of humour ever dancing 
round his lips. But, alas ! how ruthlessly the pen of 
History destroys the pictures of Imagination ! But 
for the authority of Xenophon, who was one of his 
most distinguished pupils, which of us could have be- 
lieved, that he had been compared in his own day, to 
( a fat, jolly old man, riding on an ass ? 3 We are told 
that he had a squat and unwieldy figure, a flattened 
nose, wide, upturned nostrils, thick lips, and project- 
ing eye-balls. He generally walked barefooted. He 
was, in fact, as utterly unprepossessing in personal 
appearance as he was genial in temper and irresistible 
in argument. In his case, the face was not ' the sign- 
board of the soul/ The great difference between the 
body and the brain of Socrates reminds one of the 
story of Mr Deacon, the Leicester philosopher. Being 
deformed in person, and observing two gentlemen in 
the street apparently making themselves merry at his 



294 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCRATES. 



expense, he went near them, and, raising himself to< 
his full height , exclaimed — 

' This carcase that you laugh at so, 

Is not Sam Deacon, you must know ; ] 

But 'tis the carriage — the machine 

That Samuel Deacon rideth in/ 

So, of the counterpart of the ' fat, jolly old man, riding 
on an ass/ we say, this was not Socrates, but— 

It was the carriage — the machine 
That Socrates resided in. 

CHARACTERISTIC ANECDOTES. 

There are many anecdotes told of Socrates, illus- 
trative of his personal bravery, his great powers of 
physical endurance, his upright character, his keen 
perception, and his playful wit. When he was about 
forty years of age, the great Peloponnesian war broke 
out in Greece ; and in common with the rest of his 
countrymen, he was called upon to take up arms in 
the service of the State. Potidsea had revolted, from 
the Athenians. An army was sent to besiege the re- 
volted city. Socrates was amongst the besiegers, and 
it is said, that when his pupil Alcibiades, who was also 
a near relative of Pericles, and a great favourite with 
the army, had fallen wounded in the fight, and was in 
danger of perishing in the sight of the whole army, 
Socrates rushed forward to defend him, and succeeded 
in saving both him and his arms from falling into the 
hands of the enemy. By this act he excited the ad- 
miration of all Greece, and would have been awarded 
the great national prize of valour, but that he volun- 
tarily conceded it to the hero he had saved. 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCRATES. 



295 



At the battle of Delium lie again distinguished 
himself above all his fellow-soldiers. When the 
Athenians were being routed with a great slaughter, 
he retreated like a lion, that disdains to yield, but 
turns ever and anon to attack and terrify his pursuers. 
He measured back the field by inches, while others 
fled in terror from the foe. At last, the youthful 
Xenophonfell helplessly from his horse, while fighting 
in the midst of his enemies. Socrates saw the peril. 
Without a moment's hesitation, as in the case of Alci- 
biades, he rushed to the rescue of his beloved friend, 
and, taking him on his shoulders, ran with him several 
furlongs, until a place of safety was reached. Nothing 
could have been more benevolently heroic than this 
action. Had Socrates rendered no other service to 
Greece than that of having saved the life of one whose 
military exploits and literary productions were destined 
to shed so much lustre upon the Republic, he would 
have merited the gratitude of his country. But his 
whole life was one vast act of self-denying heroism. 

He might have become immensely rich; large 
sums of money were attempted to be thrust upon him 
by his wealthy pupils from every quarter; but he ob- 
stinately refused the most valuable gifts. It was one 
of his most cherished maxims, That the gods needed 
nothing, and that he the most nearly approached them 
in character who reduced his wants within the smallest 
compass. His whole estate was not worth fifty crowns. 
He delighted in being able to exclaim, ' How many 
things I do not need ! 9 He accustomed himself to live 
upon, the humblest fare ; and in spite of the severity 
of winter, even when the earth was covered with snow, 



296 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OP SOCEATES. 



lie persisted in going barefooted and lightly clad. 
The severe simplicity of his habits, and the continual 
exercise to which he subjected himself, had so benefi- 
cial an influence on his health, and secured for him so 
robust a constitution, that he alone, in all Athens, is 
said to have entirely escaped when the whole land was 
afflicted with pestilence, and half the army was swept 
away. He never sat down to a meal without being 
blessed with an excellent appetite. His prescription 
for indigestion was both old and excellent. Attention 
to it even now, might save our dyspeptic friends the 
cost of many a doctor's bill. He simply prescribed 
the c sauce' of exercise. Of that sauce he partook 
freely. A friend of his observed him one night walk- 
ing backward and forward for a great length of time 
in front of his own house. ' Socrates/ said he, ' what 
are you doing out so late to-night ? 3 C I am making 
sauce for my supper/ exclaimed the old peripatetic 
philosopher. For medicinal virtue and cheapness, 
Socratic sauce may safely be set against the com- 
petition of the world. 

He once invited some persons of note to dine with 
him. His larder appears to have been nearly empty, 
and his wife was greatly distressed at having so little 
to set before them. But Socrates abruptly exclaimed, 
c Do not trouble thyself about thy guests ; if they are 
good men, they will be content with what there is ; if 
they are not, we need not care about them/ To him, 
then, belongs this memorable saying, which has been 
attributed] to nearly one-half of the pious old women 
in Christendom. 

As further evidence of the state of discipline to 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCEATES. 297 

■which Socrates continually subjected himself, it may 
be mentioned, that in the very hottest part of summer, 
and however thirsty he might be, he invariably threw 
away the first bucket of water, and drew another from 
the well, in order that he might practise himself in 
the duty of self-denial. When a slave had exasper- 
ated him, he said that he would have whipped him 
soundly, had it not been that he was angry. When a 
man on one occasion struck him a heavy blow on the 
ear, he all but annihilated the poor wretch, by looking 
him banteringly in the face, and telling him that it 
was a great misfortune for a man not to know where 
he ought to wear a helmet. When an insolent fellow 
had kicked him, and he was urged to revenge the in- 
sult, he playfully inquired, whether he ought to re- 
venge himself on a horse under similar circumstances. 
The man was so stung with remorse at this reply, that, 
it is said, he instantly went out and hung himself. 

HIS DOMESTIC DISQUIETUDE. 

His wife was a woman of extraordinary force of 
character. The historians have not immortalized 
her ancestry — nor needed they; the wife of Socra- 
tes had sufficient originality of mind and strength of 
temper to immortalize herself. The memory of Xan- 
thippe will never die while that of Socrates survives ; 
a more fitting pair were never joined in bonds of holy 
matrimony. The wife seemed to have been born pur- 
posely to test the virtues of the philosopher — the phi- 
losopher to laugh at his vixen of a wife. He tells us, 
with inimitable coolness, that he purposely selected 
her, from the conviction that, if he could only bear 



298 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCPcATES. 



■with her insults, there was no one nnder heaven with 
whom he could not live. He said he had acted on the 
principle of the horse-breakers, who always select first 
those horses with the hardest mouths, feeling assured 
that they can manage any others after having managed 
them. If exercise in the art of wife-breaking formed 
a necessary part of the education of Socrates, he cer- 
tainly obtained such education to his heart's content. 
None but he could have lived with such a woman. 
There was no kind of abuse to which she did not sub- 
ject him. Her transports of rage were so great that 
she sometimes tore off his cloak in the public street. 
Yet Socrates bore it all with the most exemplary mag- 
nanimity. On one occasion, after having vented 
against him all the ugly reproaches that could be 
formed from her well-stored vocabulary, she emptied 
a quantity of anything but the purest water on his 
head. Now, there are some men who would have 
adopted a very cowardly method of reciprocating such 
peculiar kindness ; but Socrates simply laughed out- 
right,, and said, ' It could not choose but rain after 
such a thunder- clap/ 

A friend of his, who was well acquainted with his 
domestic disquietude, and who thought, in either 
answer, to turn the laugh against him, inquired, 
f Which wouldst thou have me to do, Socrates — to 
marry, or remain single ? ' But Socrates was too old 
to be caught with banter. He had carefully studied 
both sides of human nature ; and he therefore unex- 
pectedly turned the tables against the querist by 
shrewdly replying, f Do which way thou wilt, my 
friend, but in either thou wilt repent/ But after all 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCEATES. 



299 



that has been said against poor Xanthippe,, there was 
one gloriously redeeming feature in her character — 
despite her temper, she loved her husband. There is 
one tender place in the very worst woman 5 s heart, and 
the heart of passionate Xanthippe was no exception to 
the rest. Follow her to that prison whither Socrates 
has gone to die. See her, day by day, seated by his 
side, with an infant boy in her arms, and two others 
clustering round her ; listen to her frantic cries, and 
look at her heart-bleeding agony, as she gazes for the 
last time upon her husband's venerable form, and then 
is torn away for ever from his affectionate embrace, 
and say, whether the infirmities of a whole life are not 
more than atoned for in the agony of that hour. 

The story of Socrates having married Myrto, the 
daughter of Aristides, during the life of Xanthippe, is 
not worthy of belief. Plato and Xenophon are both 
silent on the matter. The genuineness of the state- 
ment, ascribed to Aristotle, was questioned by Plu- 
tarch ; and Panaetius is represented as having entirely 
refuted it. The probability is, that Socrates took the 
widowed Myrto under his own roof out of benevolent 
regard for the memory of her father. 

SUPERNATURAL PREMONITIONS. 

It is well known that the doctrine of supernatural 
influence was firmly and universally believed in the 
time of Socrates. The temple of Delphi had long 
been the seat of oracular authority. A story had 
existed immemorially that some goats were once feed- 
ing on Parnassus, a mountain in the centre of Greece, 
and then believed to be also the centre of the world. 



300 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OP SOCEATES. 



Inhaling the vapour that ascended from a long, deep 
chasm, on the south-western extremity of this moun- 
tain, the goats seemed to be suddenly inspired. Soon 
afterwards, the goatherd, following in the steps of his 
flock, came under the same mysterious influence. His 
wild and extravagant conversation brought others to 
the spot ; they, too, experienced the enthusiastic in- 
spiration. The tidings rang through the whole 
country — a place of communication from the gods 
had been discovered. Such a chance of reaping gold 
was too precious for the heathen priests to lose. A 
temple was instantly constructed, and dedicated to 
Apollo, the god of the sun. For hundreds of years 
afterwards people came from all parts of the world 
to consult the crafty priests who presided in this 
temple, and professed to receive the inspirations of 
the oracle. Amazing sums of money were often 
brought by monarchs and men of wealth, who came, 
on great occasions, to propitiate the god of the oracle, 
and to obtain his counsels. The city of Delphi became 
a place of great attraction ; the influence of its oracle 
became enormous. The councils of States were con- 
trolled, the courses of armies directed, and the fates 
of kingdoms sealed by its [authority alone. In the 
course of time temples were erected in other places, 
until, at length, they covered the entire country. 
That the gods superintended the minutest affairs of 
men became a cardinal article in every man's creed. 
He who dared to dispute this doctrine was denounced 
as guilty of impiety, and deserving of death. The 
most trifling accidents in daily life were looked upon 
as special intimations from the gods. The incidents 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OP SOCEATES. 



301 



of a dream, the peculiarities of a voice, the unexpect- 
edness of a sound, the direction of flying birds, the 
objects a man might meet on the road, or the way that 
he might sneeze, were all regarded with seriousness 
and awe. 

As the number of gods began to multiply, the 
notion also began to prevail, not only that there were 
separate gods superintending the different departments 
of human fate, but also that every man had a good 
genius given to him to accompany him through life as 
his director and guide. 

Whether Socrates really believed that he was 
accompanied by an invisible, yet guiding, spirit, or 
whether, being guided by his own keen instinct and 
piercing judgment, he merely took advantage of this 
new doctrine to give increasing authority and weight 
to his counsels, it is now difficult to determine. It is, 
however, clear that he continually spoke of some secret 
voice, restraining influence, or attending spirit, that 
warned him of approaching danger. He often gave 
the most important premonitions to his friends, and 
it was said that no man ever neglected his advice with- 
out afterwards having reason to repent. 

After the battle of Delium, he entreated the 
retreating soldiers to avoid a certain road, at the peril 
of their lives. They who took his advice escaped 
safely to Athens, but they who refused it, met the 
enemy's cavalry on their way, so that many of them 
perished, and the rest were taken prisoners. He fore- 
told the calamity that befell the great fleet that 
went against Sicily, although he was the only man in 
Athens that questioned its success. On different days 



302 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OP SOCRATES. 



lie warned his friends, Crito and Thimarchus, against 
leaving their homes. Both neglected his advice. 
Crito returned, penitent, and severely wounded in the 
eye ; and Thimarchus was afterwards carried to the 
place of execution, declaring that he was about to 
suffer death for having refused to hearken to the voice 
of Socrates. 

An amusing accident once happened in this way to 
several of his friends. A number of them were going 
through the streets of Athens. Socrates suddenly 
stopped, and said he must return, as his restraining 
spirit forbad him to go on. Some of his associates, 
however, more curious than wise, playfully persisted 
in pressing forward to see what the end would be. It 
was not long before they were called upon to pay the 
penalty of their temerity ; for as they came to the 
narrowest part of the street, they met a large herd of 
swine that had been wallowing in the mire, coming on 
so thick and fast that it was utterly impossible to get 
out of the way. The result may be guessed. They got 
covered with mud from their heads to their heels, and 
also soundly bantered and laughed at for their pains. 

THE COMEDY 0E c THE CLOUDS. 5 

When Socrates was at the height of his popularity, 
a desperate effort was made by the comic poet Aristo- 
phanes to bring him into ridicule and contempt. 
Whether Aristophanes had been instigated to this by 
the enemies of Socrates, or was simply influenced by 
feelings of envy, has long been a matter of specula- 
tion. At all events, the comedy of ' The Clouds 3 was 
intended as an attack upon the character of Socrates. 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OP SOCRATES. 303 

Placed in a basket, and hoisted to the clouds, he is 
made to utter impieties and impertinences without 
number. When the piece came upon the stage,, 
Socrates, contrary to his custom, went to the theatre. 
He was the first to laugh at the performance, and when 
some strangers inquired who that Socrates was, he rose 
from his seat, and remained standing during the rest of 
the evening. He afterwards said that men ought to 
take the invectives of the poets in good part. If they 
spoke the truth, they taught us to mend our faults ; 
if they told lies, there was still less reason to be 
angry. 

HIS CONDUCT AS A SENATOR. 

In the sixty-third year of his age, Socrates was 
elected a senator of the Republic. It was during this 
year of office that the ten captains of the Athenian 
fleet were so unrighteously sentenced to death. After 
having defeated the Lacedaemonian fleet at the islands 
of Arginusse, they had been prevented, by the arising 
of a fearful storm, from burying their dead according 
to the customs of their country. This so enraged the 
superstitious Athenians, that they immediately tried 
the officers, and ordered them to be executed. Of all 
the five hundred members of the senate, there was not 
one, with the exception of Socrates, that had the 
humanity to protest against the injustice. He, how- 
ever, bearded the clamouring crowd, and, at the peril 
of his life, entreated his countrymen to spare them- 
selves the disgrace of such an infamous proceeding. 
His eloquent appeal was in vain. But he had the 
satisfaction of purging himself from the blood of his 



304 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OP SOCEATES. 



innocent countrymen, and of testifying that, when all 
Athens had gone mad with unreasoning excitement, 
there was one man left that would rather himself perish 
than become a party to an act of injustice. A few 
months after this judicial murder, all Greece was on 
the stool of repentance, Socrates alone excepted. 
During the same year, the thirty tyrants resolved to 
get rid of Leon, a man of high rank and great fortune, 
that they might get possession of his estate. In order 
to commit Socrates to the injustice, they ordered him 
to go and seize their victim. But, instead of doing 
so, Socrates went straight home, declaring that he 
would never willingly assist in an unjust act. When 
asked whether he expected always to talk in that high 
style, and not to have to suffer, he replied — ' Far from 
it. I expect to have to suffer a thousand ills, but none 
so great as to do unjustly/ 

HIS POPULARITY AMONGST HIS POLLOWEES. 

By his simple habits, his matchless wisdom, and 
his inflexible integrity, Socrates became greatly en- 
deared to his disciples. When Aristippus first heard 
of him at the Olympic games, he could neither rest day 
nor night till he had visited Athens, and made himself 
acquainted with his virtue and wisdom. Alcibiades 
forsook all the world to follow him ; and when he 
afterwards allowed himself to be seduced away from 
the study of philosophy, he put his fingers into his 
ears that he might not hear the voice of Socrates, 
which sounded to him like the flute of Marsyas, or the 
singing of the Syrens. So great was the passion of 
Euclides for the society of Socrates, that when the 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCEATES. 305 

penalty of death was threatened against any inhabitant 
of Megara who should set his foot upon the soil of At- 
tica, he was accustomed to disguise himself every night 
in female attire for the purpose of visiting the resid- 
ence of his companion and friend. Antisthenes 
walked ten miles backward and forward every day to 
Athens for the purpose of listening to Socrates. Plato 
was often heard to praise the gods for three things — 
First, that he was endowed with a reasonable soul ; 
second, that he was born a Greek and not barbarian ; 
and third, that his birth had happened in the age of 
Socrates. Cicero says, that all the sects of philoso- 
phers that came after Socrates took their rise from 
him, and all boasted that they had descended from the 
same glorious stock. 

HIS ACCUSATION AND DEFENCE. 

At length, however, the Peloponnesian war brought 
ruin upon the Republic. Attica became subject' to 
Lacedemonia. Athens suffered under the sanguinary 
rule of the thirty tyrants. Socrates became a thorn 
in their sides. He was too high-minded to bend 
beneath their yoke. He exposed their hypocrisy, and 
denounced their misdeeds. Unfortunately, Critias, 
the worst of the tyrants, had once been a pupil of 
Socrates. This circumstance brought him into odium 
with the unreflecting people. Placed in this way be- 
tween two fires, his enemies began to plot against his 
life. Before their purpose could be conveniently 
accomplished the tyrants were deposed. As, however, 
there were still many persons in the city to whom 
Socrates was obnoxious, either because he had exposed 

20 



306 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCEATES. 



their ignorance or wounded their pride, it was not 
long before lie was brought to trial on the following 
charges : — 

1. That he acknowledged not the gods of the 
Republic. 

2. That he introduced new divinities. 

3. That he corrupted the youth of the city. 

No sooner was this indictment made known than 
his friends collected around him, and began to prepare 
for his defence. For this purpose they employed 
Lysias, one of the most renowned of the Athenian 
orators. He prepared a brilliant oration for Socrates 
to commit to memory. The venerable philosopher, 
however, politely declined this assistance. He read 
the oration with pleasure, and ^spoke of it in terms 
of the highest commendation ; but he said that it was 
constructed more according to the rules of rhetoric 
than the opinions of a philosopher. 

On the day of his trial he appeared before his 
accusers with as much coolness and self-possession as 
if he were about to assist in their deliberations. He 
replied to the charges brought against him as calmly 
and as conclusively as he would have replied to Prota- 
goras in the Lyceum, or to Gorgias in the market 
place. He told his judges that he had not come there 
to plead on his own account, but on theirs; that he 
had been sent by the Deity to Athens to persuade 
them to the pursuit of virtue ; and that, if they put 
him to death, they would injure themselves more than 
they could injure him. He spoke at considerable 
length. But even in that solemn crisis there were the 
same displays of ironical humour and playful wit which 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OP SOCRATES. 



307 



had characterized his constant daily conversations. 
At the close of his defence the votes were collected. 
Out of five hundred and fifty-nine judges he was found 
guilty by a majority of only three. 

He was now entitled to be heard before his punish- 
ment was determined. Had he been willing to have 
accepted a smaller punishment, he would doubtless 
have escaped the penalty of death. But when chal- 
lenged, according to the practice of the Athenian 
courts, to propose his own estimate of his offence, he 
treated the matter with the most playful indifference. 
He felt it would be unbecoming in a man of his years 
and with his reputation to supplicate for his life. He 
said that if he had to award his own sentence, his 
choice must be according to his deserts. He knew 
that he had been of great service to his country ; and, 
as he was anxious to have a little more leisure in the 
future, in order to give his countrymen good advice, 
he would just at once propose that he should be 
maintained for the rest of his life at the expense of the 
State. It was true that he might make a choice of 
banishment, but as it would be a very odd thing for an 
old man like him, upwards of seventy years of age, to be 
wandering about from place to place seeking shelter, 
he could not think of that. If he had been rich, he 
said, he might have proposed the payment of a fine. 
But still, he thought he could afford to pay them a 
mina (about twelve shillings of silver) if they would 
accept that sum. 

This style of address evidently exasperated his 
judges ; for when the vote was taken a second time, 
it was found that eighty more of them voted for con- 



308 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCEATES. 



denming him to death, than had found him guilty of 
crime. After his condemnation he walked from the 
court to the prison with the most perfect composure. 
He said he had done nothing to deserve his sentence ; 
as, however, he must die sometime, he did not know 
that it was a matter of much importance whether he 
died a few weeks sooner or later than he might wish. 

HIS DEATH. 

During the thirty days that elapsed between the 
sentence and its execution, he was constantly visited 
in prison by his friends. His whole time was spent 
with them in discussing questions of popular philo- 
sophy. He even composed a hymn in honour of 
Apollo,, and turned a fable of ^Esop into verse. His 
friends were intensely anxious to save him. They 
bribed his gaoler, and arranged a plan by which he 
could escape into Thessaly without the slightest diffi- 
culty. When, however, they told him of the arrange- 
ment, he burst into laughter, and inquired whether 
they had found any spot for him to fly to, where men 
could not die. Till they did that, he said, he could 
not think of damaging his own reputation by flying 
from the laws of his country. 

His wife and children visited him during the last 
day of his life. Poor Xanthippe was so overwhelmed 
with grief, that he was obliged to get Crito to send 
her home. He spent the remainder of the day in 
talking with his friends on the immortality of the 
soul, the rewards of the righteous, and the punishment 
of the wicked. As the sun went down, the execu- 
tioner came, with the cup of poison in his hand. He 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOCEATES. 



309 



took it without the slightest hesitation, and calmly 
swallowed the deadly draught. His friends all burst 
into tears, but he entreated them to desist weeping, 
and not to afflict themselves on his account. He then 
walked a few times up and down the room. Finding 
the strength of his legs to fail him, he threw himself 
on a little bed and covered his face. In a few minutes 
he again uncovered himself ; and, probably, remem- 
bering that, as all the diseases of his life were now 
being healed, and he was just about to enter a state of 
pure existence, it was necessary to show his gratitude 
to the god of health, he said, ' Crito, we owe a cock to 
Esculapius; take care to pay it him, and neglect it 
not.' These were his last words. In a few moments 
he drew his final breath, and thus passed away the 
very best and wisest man of all the heathen world. 

It was not long after this that the persecutors of 
Socrates were made to bite the dust. A great plague 
having come upon the city, the people began to think 
that heaven was taking vengeance on them for the 
death of their great philosopher. About this time 
Euripides is said to have reproached the Athenians, 
by introducing into one of his great plays the lines — 

' From the most just of all the Greeks 
You suatch the life away.' 

The audience, suspecting this to be a reference to 
Socrates, burst into tears. The public regret and 
consternation now became so great that all the schools 
were shut up, all the public places of exercise were 
closed, and the people mourned for Socrates as a 
mother would mourn over the death of an only child. 



310 THE LIFE AND TIMES OE SOCRATES. 

His accusers were instantly put to death ; and those 
who had voted against him were held in such abomi- 
nation by the citizens, that many of them put an end 
to their own existence. A. brazen statue was erected 
in the House of the Pomps ; a temple, designated the 
Socrateion, was erected in a conspicuous part of the 
city; and, indeed, everything was done of which a 
sorrowing people were capable in order to make atone- 
ment for their unalterable crime. 

CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

We do not speak of Socrates as a perfect model of 
moral excellence. It is true that his conceptions of 
the Divine character, and his ideas of general moral- 
ity, far transcended those of any other teacher of his 
day. He believed in the existence of one Supreme 
God, who was omnipotent in power, infinite in wisdom, 
and boundless in benevolence. He believed in the 
doctrine of an all- seeing and overruling Providence ; 
in the immortality of the soul, the future reward of the 
righteous, and the endless punishment of the wicked. 
He taught that the grand object of life was, to learn 
the path of duty, and to walk in it ; to bear up with 
manly fortitude under misfortunes ; to render honour 
and obedience to the Deity ; and to contribute, in 
every possible way, to the moral and social improve- 
ment of mankind. But, after all, he cherished many 
opinions, gave utterance to many sentiments, and in- 
dulged in many practices, that every enlightened 
Christian man must seriously condemn. With the 
Bible in his hand, there can be no doubt but that he 
would have become the greatest scoivrge to impiety 



THE LIFE AXD TIMES OE SOCRATES. 



311 



and vice that ever breathed. But, living as he did, 
without the light of revelation, and in the midst of 
idolatry and licentiousness, even with his great in- 
tellect and vast experience, he was unable to rise to 
the moral level of the humblest Christian. Who can 
contemplate his oft-repeated maxim, that no man 
ought to do anything in religious matters contrary to 
the customs of the Kepublic ; who can read the 
account of his impure conversation with the courtesan 
Theodota; or who can reflect upon his last dying re- 
quest to Crito, without feeling the impudence of those 
claims that have been made by an unblushing infi- 
delity to rank him side by side with the world's Ee- 
deemer ? Let him take his proper place on the page 
of the world's history ; and let him. have that place 
ungrudgingly. He was a fine old enlightened heathen, 
who was far in advance of the age in which he lived ; 
but he was nothing more. He stood head and 
shoulders above all his compeers in the heathen world, 
and as such is entitled to have his name placed above 
them all; but to attempt to compare him with the 
world's Messiah, either in the purity of his character, 
the dignity of his demeanour, the sublime object of 
his mission, the practical wisdom of his teaching, or 
the manner of his death, is as perfectly preposterous 
as would be a comparison between the light of the 
glowworm and that of the sun. 

Young men, there are many things in the life of 
Socrates deserving of your careful consideration. He 
began life in humble circumstances ; he sought mental 
culture in the intervals of labour ; ho marked out his 
own path to pre-eminent usefulness ; he sternly re- 



312 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OE SOCRATES. 



sisted every diverting temptation ; he devoted all the 
powers of his mind to the one grand idea of his life ; 
he fonnd friends to help him as he needed and de- 
served them ; he exerted an enormons influence on the 
people of his own generation ; he died with his head 
crowned with honours and with years; and, what is 
still more important, he left a name and an influence 
behind him that will be as lasting as the sun. In 
these things strive, then, to emulate his great example. 
Remember that you possess ten thousand privileges 
that he possessed not. The path to immortality is 
already opening out before you. Step into it. Con- 
secrate the best powers of your being to your Maker 
and your kind. Read carefully ; pray constantly ; 
work perseveringly. So shall your names live in the 
temple of your country's history, when your souls are 
enshrined in the upper and nobler temple of your God. 



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